Roronoa Aela
by grace-adalyn
Summary: Roronoa Aela is the younger sister of esteemed pirate hunter, Roronoa Zoro. Aela will travel with the Straw hat crew to help her brother and crew mates reach their dreams, and maybe even learn some things about herself along the way. I'm awful with summaries. Seriously. Just read it.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys! I got bored. That's all I'm going to say lol. Thank you so much for clicking on this story. I love One Piece. It's been with me since I was a kid, and it's gotten me through a lot of tough shit. I do have a full time job along with ADD, so when inspiration hits, I post chapters. I will try to be consistent with updating, but shit happens.**

 **Like any author, I appreciate reviews because they let me know what my audience likes and doesn't like. Fair warning, Aela cusses quite a bit. I won't go so far as to rate this mature, but I will up the rating in the future if need be. I have a potty mouth, and she's a pirate so... *shrugs***

 **Again, thanks for reading, and enjoy!**

 **Roronoa Aela**

"Zoro-nii you said it wouldn't take long to get to the next town!" I whined, trying to resist the urge to stomp my foot. "It took forever!" "Stop whining," he grunted. He was sitting cross legged in the boat, head reclined back and eyes closed. "I'm so hungry! Laaaand!" I cried triumphantly, reaching over the edge of the boat and shoving my hands in the water, trying and failing to push the boat ever faster towards land. My eyes grew big as we got closer and I began chanting.

"Land..land..land...laaaandd! Food food foooood!"

"Oi!" Zoro shouted suddenly. I got over excited as I usually did, and tried to jump out of the boat a little too soon, planting face first into the sand. I popped right back up though, and thrust my pointer finger into the air triumphantly. "Land!" I shouted for the final time, and made to take off towards the road that would hopefully lead us to a town.

"Aela!" I heard behind me, and suddenly my progress forward was jolted to a stop. I looked back towards my brother with a whine, my feet continuing to move but my body unable to. "Zorrrroooo-niiiii!" I whined, pulling on my shirt that he'd grabbed on to. "Let go!" I pinched his hand but it was to no avail, as Zoro just rolled his eyes and pulled me closer so I was forced to face him.

"Meet me at the town bar in an hour, and don't eat too many sweets. Stay out of trouble," he grunted again, and I quickly nodded. "K Zo-Zo," I agreed, and he sighed, making me grin. He hated that name.

My brother and I quickly parted ways and I made my way into town. The first place I was stopping? A sweet shop of course. I hummed to myself as I passed a variety of stores, smiling at the vendors sweetly. "Yay!" I cried, finally setting my eyes on a small bakery. My stomach growled just thinking about the awesomny goodness inside, and I rubbed my hands together in excitement before running towards the store.

"Sweets!" I shouted, bursting my way inside. There was a lady at the counter that jolted a bit as I did this, but then quickly continued what she was doing, muttering something about 'dumb kids..'

My mouth began watering looking at all of the treats piled on for display and I slid back and forth from end to end, muttering to myself. "Which one should I get? The strawberry pie looks amazing but that triple chocolate cake looks perfect! Are those cookies?!" I yanked on my hair in distress, but finally, a solution popped into my head and I smiled, eyes lighting up.

"Excuse me," I cleared my throat politely in front of the shop woman, and she gave me a dry look. "Yes?" "I'd like to get three slices of your triple chocolate cake, a dozen of your peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, and one slice of strawberry pie. Please." I ended, remembering my manners. The woman's eyes went wide, but she nodded and quickly gathered up my order.

I smiled in content as I walked down the road through the town, holding my bag of sweets in one hand and finishing off my fifth cookie in the other. I made my way to the bar, humming a song that had been stuck in my head for a while. I finally found the bar after getting lost three or four times, and asking an older couple for directions (sense of direction was definitely hereditary in this case). Making my way inside the bar, I walked over to the front counter, automatically taking in my surroundings as I did so, and was taught to do by my brother.

I got a few weird looks but was mostly ignored and sat down on a bar stool right as the bartender made her way towards me. "Hello!" she greeted cheerily, and I smiled, watching a little girl come up beside her with a notebook in her hand. "What can we get for you?" I thought about ordering food but was still pretty hyped up on sweets. "I don't really want anything right now. I'm actually waiting for someone. Has a man carrying three swords made his way through here yet?"

The woman stiffened a bit then, which I noticed, and in turn my eyes sharpened. I retained my relaxed smile and facade though, hoping that it would calm her nerves. The little girl, her daughter I'm presuming, spoke up then. "We saw him! He came to the bar and was really nice to me. He saved me from Helmoppo's pet wolf." "His pet wolf, huh?" I confirmed, rubbing my forehead. _And he told_ me _to stay out of trouble…_ I thought to myself wearily.

"Ye-huh!" the little girl replied excitedly. "I'm afraid the man you're looking for has been arrested," the woman spoke up then, and I looked up sharply. "What?" I questioned, and I saw her tense even more. "I'm sorry," I apologized immediately, feeling guilty. "I didn't mean to scare you. That man is my brother and I'm just worried about him. Can you tell me what happened after the wolf incident?"

The woman nodded in understanding. "I understand your concern," she said, and pulled her daughter closer to her. Her eyes filled with tears then and she sniffed, "After he saved my daughter from the wolf, your brother made a deal with Helmoppo. He agreed to be arrested if only they would leave my daughter be. He made a deal with him about lasting one month at the marine base without food or water. I'm so sorry," she finished. "Don't be sorry," I waved her off, and she gaped. "How can you say that?"

"It's not like it's a death wish or anything," I assured her. "Zoro's tough. He'll be fine." _I'll make sure of it,_ I said to myself.

Zoro was older than me by 3 years. He was 19, I was 16. He was of course, stupidly over protective, and that had a lot to do with the fact that he practically raised me. People really couldn't tell we were siblings until they got to know us. We sit the same, walk the same, hell we talk the same most of the time. I'm more bubbly than brother of course, but that's not saying much. He's not exactly the friendliest guy in the seas.

I was short, Zoro was tall. I came up to about his shoulders, on a good day. He was muscular, I was kind of tiny. I had a flat stomach, but I was curvy and toned from the hard core training Zoro and I had done over the years.

Zoro had lightly tanned skin, which I had as well, but I definitely burned much easier than he did. I resembled a lobster when I got too much sun, he just darkened up more. Zoro-nii has green hair, I have auburn curly hair. I don't have any piercings, unlike Zoro, but I do have a tattoo. It's a compass done on my left calf muscle. It's got blue and purple water colors surrounding it. I got it last year for my 15th birthday, and it's my favorite feature. I've got a bitchin' case of tattoo fever right now though. My skin felt as though it was literally itching for new ink.

Although Zoro was older than me, I was just as protective towards him as he was of me. We really only had each other growing up, and grew ridiculously close because of that. I looked out for him, he looked out for me. It would never change.

"Thank you so much for the information," I said getting up from my seat and bowing towards the woman and her daughter. I made to turn around to leave the bar, but was stopped by the woman grabbing my arm. "Wait," she said, and I turned towards her curiously. "If you don't have anywhere to stay tonight, as a thank you for your brother saving my daughter, we would be humbled if you chose to stay in our spare room upstairs."

I smiled at her brightly. "That's very kind of you. I'll gladly take up your offer," she smiled in relief, but her smile dropped a bit as I continued. "On one condition." "Yes?" she said, hesitant. "If I'm going to be staying here I need to at least earn my keep. I'm an awesome server!" I said brightly, giving her a thumbs up. The woman went to argue but then stopped, obviously sensing my stubbornness. "Well," she began, "we are actually short staffed. I suppose that would be alright," she nodded.

"Awesome!" I shouted, giving her a double thumbs up. Her daughter giggled and I threw her a wink. "Before all of that though, I need to go find my idiot brother." "I understand. Please be careful," she said in a motherly tone. "I'll be fine," I confirmed, touched by her concern.

Suddenly, I felt a tug on my shirt and looked down to see the little girl peering up at me. "Tell your oni-chan I said thank you for rescuing me," she said in a sweet voice, and I grinned towards her, kneeling down to her level. "Absolutely!" I said, and reached into my bag for my sweets.

Her eyes lit up when I pulled out a cookie, and she immediately snatched it out of my hand, making me burst into laughter, and causing her mother to gasp. "Rika! Don't be so rude!" she scolded. "It's fine!" I said, still giggling. "What do you say?" her mother said, nudging her daughter.

"Fank fu," the little girl, Rika said, smiling at me through a mouthful of cookie. "You're very welcome!" I replied, ruffling her hair before standing up to my full height again. "I'll be back soon. I'm just going to see what's going on with my brother and this Helmeppo guy. Bye for now!" I waved, and left the store in search of the marine base for my idiot brother.

 **That's it for chapter one! Review if you can!**

 **Till next time.**


	2. idiot brother

I finally made it to the marine base, which was covertly hidden behind a giant wall (sarcasm). Eventually, I figured out a way to peek over the wall, clicking my tongue at what I saw. Zoro was tied up in the middle of their yard. He looked like he was passed out, but I couldn't see any obvious wounds so I guessed he was only sleeping.

I jumped over the wall with an oomph, my short legs making the jump even bigger than it actually was, and casually walked over to Zoro. "Oi," I started, kicking him lightly. Zoro peaked at me with one eye before opening them fully towards me. "What's up?" he said casually, and I sweat dropped. "What's up?" I repeated. I kicked him more roughly. "Oi!" he shouted at me. "What's the big idea?" "The big idea is that you told ME not to get into any trouble, and look where the hell you ended up!" I finished, shaking my fist at him.

"Hmph," he grunted, sniffing. "Whatever. That idiot Helmoppo annoyed me." "Right," I nodded slyly. "I bet helping the little girl had nothing to do with it." "Whatever," he grunted, and I rolled my eyes. _Always the tough guy…_

"So a month, huh?" I questioned, and he nodded. "Yeah, guess so."

"Well, that's great. You better be glad I've already found somewhere to stay or I'd kick you harder baka! I hope you understand that unless I come feed you, you've sentenced yourself to die."

At this Zoro rolled his eyes. "Thanks for that little sister but I'm good. I've got strong will. You don't need to come feed me and I don't want you near here with dumb-ass Helmoppo liable to come around whenever he wants." "Oh so you're allowed to risk your life and be tied up without food and water for a month, but I can't even come near the vicinity? Yeah, right," I snorted.

"I'll be back to feed you and give you water," I confirmed. At this point I kneeled down and reached inside of my bag for the rest of the cookies. I saved you a piece of cake and the rest of the cookies. "Aela what did I say about too many sweets?" he scolded. "You should be glad I got these or you would be starving right about now!" I argued. "Tch," he replied, but ate the cookie when I offered it to him, and drank the water I had in my bag right after.

"Just watch yourself when you come around here," he relented. "I won't be able to help you if you get into trouble." I made to argue with him again but stopped when I saw that he was truly worried. "I'll be fine Zo-Zo," I said, and he rolled his eyes but nodded.

Eventually I made my way back to the bar. I began working for at the bar, and for the next three weeks I worked and snuck my way back and forth to my brother, feeding him and making sure he was hydrated. One afternoon at the bar was particularly busy, and I grew upset as I realized that I wouldn't be able to bring food to Zoro. Rika, who'd I'd gotten close to these past three weeks asked me if everything was okay, and I told her.

"I can do it!" she offered, and I immediately shook my head. "No way," I said, and she pouted. "It's way too dangerous." "I can do it Aela-chan!" she argued, and I sighed. I wasn't able to get food to him yesterday either, and I knew he would be starving. "Fine," I said, extremely reluctant. "Be very very careful, Rika! I need you to check around the perimeter like I taught you before you go over the wall. If you see Helmoppo what should you do?" "Kick him in the coconuts!" she shouted, and I grinned, pleased. "That's right," I nodded, and gave the girl a quick hug after supplying her with Zoro's food. I went back to serving the customers, trying not to bite my nails in worry for the girl. If anything happened to her I would never be able to forgive myself.

An hour eventually passed, and I was about to go look for the girl myself until finally, she came back through. "Rika!" I shouted, rushing towards her. "What took you so long?" I said, kneeling down and grasping her shoulders. "I didn't mean to Aela-chan!" she said apologetically. "I got caught by Helmoppoo and.." "What?" I cried, shocked.

"Are you okay?" I cried, turning the small girl in my hands looking for any injuries. She giggled as I kept spinning her, and I heard another laugh from above, which made me stop for a second. "Shishishi," I heard, and looked up to see two people standing close to Rika. I cursed myself for not being aware of them earlier. I slowly stood up and slid Rika behind me.

"Hello," I said cautiously. One of the boys appeared to only be a little older than Rika. He had pink hair and glasses and was breathing very quickly as though he were nervous. I moved my sight to the person. He was taller than the boy, taller than me but a bit shorter than my brother. He had black shaggy hair, and a scar under his right eye. He was wearing a red vest, shorts, and a straw hat on top of his head.

"Hello!" The boy with the hat replied, grinning cheerily. "Rika do you know these people?" I asked the girl and she made to move from behind me. I allowed the movement but kept a hand on her shoulder just in case. "Of course! These are my new friends. They helped me get away from the scary man!" I looked up, surprised. "Thank you," I said, reaching my hand towards the taller boy. "I don't know what kind of trouble she got herself into.." "Hey!" the girl said indignantly, but I continued, "but I appreciate you being there for her when I wasn't."

"It's no problem!" the boy said. "My name's Roronoa Aela." "Roronoa?!" the boy with pink hair said, taking a step back. "You can't be related to Roronoa Zoro!"

"Yeah, I am," I said nodding. "That's my older brother," I confirmed. "Woah!" the black haired boy said, and I looked towards him to see stars in his eyes. "You both have to join my crew!"

"What do you mean?" I said. "What kind of crew?" "My pirate crew!" he said proudly. "My name's Luffy and I'm gonna be king of the pirates!"

"Really?" I said in excitement, almost bouncing. "That's so cool!" "I know!" he replied, rubbing a finger under his nose. "Shishishishi." "My name's Coby," the pink haired boy behind Luffy said, and I waved towards him. "Nice to meetcha!"

Luffy opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, I heard the most annoying, grating voice echo through the bar. "I'm hungry! Let us all eat for free! HeaaHeaa! Hey barmade, bring me some booze!"

I looked over to see Helmoppo and his men entering the bar. Any of the other customers we had quickly got up and fled, making room for the man who plopped down at one of the tables. He leaned back in the chair and propped his feet on to the table, making me grit my teeth. I just washed that table! "Excuse me?" he said again, his voice grating. "Could we get some service around here?"

"Excuse me," I said to Luffy and Coby, who were watching the situation tensely. "Quit dawdling girl! Hurry up!" I grabbed the bottle of wine and made my way over to his table, putting on my waitress face. "Sorry for the wait," I said politely, and made to pour the wine into his glass.

"You should be," he sneered and I bit my lip. I turned around and began walking towards the bar again when I heard it. "I've been rather bored lately..I think I've decided to execute Zoro tomorrow instead of waiting out the full month. I'm looking forward to his blood being spilt. Heaaaheaaaa."

I stopped, my blood boiling. Who the hell did that asshole think he is?

I quickly turned around, making my way towards the table, fingers closely tightly around the bottle of wine. I tapped Helmoppo on the shoulder and he turned around, eyebrow raised.

Before he could say anything, I took the bottle of wine and slammed it over his head, breaking the bottle over his skull. Wine and pieces of glass went everywhere, and suddenly, Helmoppo was on the ground and I was surrounded by men pointing their guns at me.

"Who do you think you are girl?" the man on the ground shouted, holding his head. "How dare you! I'm going to tell daddy!" I smiled at him with dark eyes and he shivered. Before his men could stop me I reached down and grabbed the disgusting man by his collar, holding him up to my face.

"I hope you do tell daddy," I mocked. "I'll beat his ass too. You're a dead man walking for thinking you can kill my brother." "Brother?" he said, and then his eyes lit up.

"Roronoa Aela!" he said. "I recognize you now! Looks like we've killed two birds with one stone, so to speak. Men, grab her!" he commanded, and before I could blink, my arms had been trapped behind me, I was shoved to the ground, and a gun was up to my head. "Aela!" I heard Rika shout.

"Stay back Rika!" I shouted and watched as her mother came and grabbed her, shoving the little girl behind her quickly.

I closed my eyes tightly, whispering a quick sorry to my brother. "You're dead you little shit," the man holding me chuckled, shoving his gun tighter to my head and cocking it back. "No!" I heard from Rika again. _Sorry guys…_ I said in regret.

Before he could shoot though, I heard a loud, "Hey!", and felt a rush of wind fly right past my face. I gasped as I was released from the hold, and looked up to see that all the men surrounding me, along with Helmoppo, had been swung into the wall of the bar. I felt a presence in front of me and looked up to see Luffy stepping in front of me.

"Are you okay?" I heard beside me, and nodded gratefully when Coby helped me up from the ground.

"I'm fine," I confirmed, looking to Luffy. "Thanks for that," I said, and he glanced back at me. "Thought I was dead there for a second," I chuckled. "No problem" he smiled, looking back towards the men.

"I hate guys like him. This guy is scum," he said, and I readily agreed. "Aela!" I heard and looked back to see Rika running towards me. "Hey there!" I said, ruffling her hair. "Go back to your mom okay? Everything's fine." She looked like she was about to argue, but nodded, tears in her eyes, and did as I said. I looked forward and marveled at how Luffy had somehow managed to shove all those men into the wall like that. He had to be crazy strong.

"Don't you know who I am boy? I'm Captain Morgan's son!"

"So what?" Luffy replied, and I snorted. "So what? I'll have you executed! You and the wench behind you along with her brother!" I grit my teeth and made to step forward again when Luffy's words made me stop. "I could care less who you are!" he said, and I watched as he stepped forward towards the dumb ass man. "People like you make me sick! How bout you fight me yourself like a man instead of your dad fighting your battles for you, you big baby!" Luffy shouted and I burst into laughter.

Helmoppo's face turned purple with embarrassment and anger which made me laugh harder. I could already tell that being on this guy's crew was going to be one hell of a ride!


	3. Taking out the trash

"I can't believe that just happened…" I said, watching in disbelief as the statue that Luffy knocked down crashed onto the ground. "How the hell..did his arms..stretch?" I said to myself, fascinated. Coby and I walked over to where Zoro was still tied up. "Yo!" I greeted, and he scowled at me. Coby cowered behind me but I just rolled my eyes. His mean looks don't scare me.

"What the hell are you doing here, Aela?" he said, and I was confused. "What the hell do you mean?" "I told you to be careful coming around here! There's military officials everywhere. You're gonna get caught! I still have ten days…"

"And you're gonna get executed!" I shouted, cutting him off, and he stopped. "What the hell do you.."

"Helmeppo never intended to wait out the full month to execute you.." Coby broke in, and I looked to see that he was already working on freeing Zoro from his ropes. "That's right," I nodded, eyes sharp. "He was gonna kill you out of boredom," I growled. "He's planning on executing you tomorrow." "Bastard…" Zoro cursed.

Coby and I worked together to try and break the knots, but they were tied pretty tight. "Damn knots…" I went to reach for my knife that I always kept holstered on my thigh but it wasn't there. "Son of a bitch! Zoro where's my knife?!"

"The one you sold at the last town we were at? The one you sold so you could get more sweets?!" Zoro growled out at me, and I sweat dropped. "Oh yeah…" Coby fell down to the ground anime style, before bouncing back up a second later when we heard someone yell, "Hold it right there!"

I looked over from where I'd begun gnawing on the ropes with my teeth to see Helmoppo and his shit load of marines headed right towards us. Luffy had left to get Zoro-nii's katanas, only when Zoro agreed to join his crew of course though. I had already decided that we would be joining, but I made sure not to tell Zoro that; he tends to get rather pissy about that kind of stuff.

"The three of you have committed treason and will be executed on the spot," Helmoppo sneered, and at his words I released the rope from my mouth and took up a defensive stance in front of Zoro and Coby. "Committed treason? Against who?" Coby shouted bravely. When Helmoppo threw an evil smile in his direction he hid behind Zoro and shook in fear, making me sigh. "Against me of course," he smiled, and I scoffed.

"Sounds like someone is full of himself," I shouted over to him, and his face turned red, and then his smile became darker. "Men, prepare to fire!"

Coby began to cry in fear when the marines raised their guns toward us, and I felt anger rush over me for making my new friend cry. "This is very interesting what you all are doing," Helmoppo said casually. "Were you three and straw hat planning a coup?"

"Something like that," I said and he looked my way. "It is a pitty that I have to kill you Roronoa Aela," he said, and my eyebrow rose. "Oh?"

"Yes," he continued, "You and I could go far in our conquests," he finished, licking his lips. I gagged, my stomach literally turning at his words and actions, and heard Zoro growl. "The only place you and I will ever be heading together is the cemetery after I kill you. You'll be the one in the box," I winked. Zoro snorted and Helmoppo choked. "You bitch!"

I shrugged. "Guilty." "It seems the three of you along with straw hat have underestimated me." I ignored Coby's indignant cry of, "Three?!" and readied myself when the marines aimed their guns toward us again. I got in front of Coby and Zoro, naturally settling into my fighting stance; one leg behind, one in front, solar plex and skull protected by arms.

"Aela!" Zoro said, his voice full of panic. "You can't handle that many bullets!" I could hear him struggling with the ropes, trying in vain to loosen them. "You can't either Zo-Zo," I said, throwing a grin towards him. "You might be strong Roronoa Aela," Helmoppo began, "but not even you are strong enough to withstand this kind of attack."

"You might be surprised," I said, and he grinned evilly.

"Fire!"

The guns were shot, the bullets racing towards us. "Aela!" Zoro shouted. I closed my eyes, trying to block out the chaos. I felt the sting of a bullet hit my leg, but before I could feel more, I felt a huge swish of air in front of me. My eyes shot open and I gasped at surprise when I saw that Luffy was suddenly in front of me. "Luffy no!" I shouted, ready to push him away, but was even more shocked when I saw that the bullets were _bouncing off of him_.

"What in the hell…" I said breathlessly, fascinated. "What the hell?" I heard Zoro share my sentiments. "Shishishishi!" Luffy laughed. "That won't work on me!" And he was right. Every single bullet, except the one in my leg, had bounced off of the boy and right back towards the marines, who looked about ready to shit their pants.

I grabbed Luffy's arm and turned him towards me, checking for wounds. "Are you okay? How…" He cut me off laughing, and grabbed my hand from where'd I'd been running it over his shoulders and chest checking for wounds. I didn't see any blood but…. "Shishishi I'm fine Aela," he began, and released my hand. "I'm a rubber man, see?" He took his hand and put it to his mouth, stretching. His mouth just stretched!

"Holy shit…" I breathed, and grinned, jumping up and down. "That's so cool! Zo-zo did you see that?" I said, pointing at Luffy and looking at my brother. "That's not important right now!" Zoro shouted, and suddenly looked down at something. "Aela damn it you're bleeding!" I looked down and grimaced. That fuckin' hurt!

"Ouch!" I shouted, grabbing my leg, and everyone sweat dropped. "You're just now feeling it?!" Coby shouted, and Luffy laughed. "Shishishi! Oh yeah! I brought your swords Zoro. I didn't know which one was yours so I brought all three."

"They're all mine," Zoro replied, and I nodded. "I use a three sword style technique." "That's so cool!" Luffy said, and I laughed. "Give em here," the green haired man grunted. Luffy stopped then, looking seriously at my brother, and then me. "If you take these swords right now, you'll be an enemy of the government. Are you prepared for that?" "What are you, the devil's son?" Zoro replied, and I snorted.

"Excuse me?" a grating voice said, and we all turned. "Did you all forget about me!" Helmoppo shouted. I turned around grinning. "Who the hell could forget that butt ugly face?" "Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?" Helmoppo shouted, and I giggled.

"What are you all doing standing around?" Helmoppo shouted to his men. "Shoot them!" "I'll be a part of your damn crew," Zoro shouted, panicking a bit when he watched me get in front of him again. "Just gimme the damn swords!"

Blocking out what was going on behind me, I held out a hand, grinning when a visible shield formed in front of me. The shield looked like it was made of air. It was white around the edges, and clear towards the middle. **(If you guys have ever seen The Incredibles, imagine Violet's shield at this point, that's Aela's power).**

"Woah!" Coby exclaimed, the boy looking at me now with wide eyes. I winked at him. He wasn't just looking at my shield right now. When I used my devil fruit, my eyes changed. Zoro was born with brown eyes, while I had blue. However, that changed after the dreaded fruit incident. My eyes looked like my shield when my powers activated; a ring of white appears around the blue pupil, making them shine. It looked pretty cool if I say so myself.

I heard the marines and Helmoppo gasp in surprise, and grinned in delight. "Yes! It worked!" and then frowned when the shield began fading in and out, before disappearing completely, allowing the bullets that the shield had stopped to come through. I prepared myself for the sting of bullets, closing my eyes and still holding my hands out, but before they hit, Zoro had leapt in front of me. He had a sword in each hand and one in his mouth, and was blocking the bullets from hitting their mark.

"Make one move closer and you die," Zoro warned the marines around him. "Today, my sister and I officially become criminals, having fought the marines," Zoro announced expertly, sword still in his mouth. "We'll become pirates, that I can promise you. Know this though. While I'm with you, the only thing I dedicate myself to is fulfilling my ambition."

Luffy smiled. "Which is?"

"To be nothing less that the World's Greatest Swordsman." I smiled with pride and inwardly agreed. I would be right next to him when he did it. "If somewhere along the way I have to give that up, then I want you to accept responsibility," Zoro added. "After which you get to apologize to me."

"The World's Greatest Swordsman," Luffy repeated, thinking. "Sounds awesome to me. The King of the Pirates wouldn't have any less than the best on his crew." At Luffy's words my heart leapt a bit. His confidence was inspiring,and I knew that this guy would die to protect his dream, and that's someone I would be happy to follow through life.

"From this point on," Zoro smirked, "no matter if I'm a criminal or not, I will spread the name Zoro throughout the world."

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL STANDING THERE FROZEN FOR?! KILL THEM ALL RIGHT NOW!" I heard a huge yell come from behind me.

"Who the hell's this guy?" I asked Zoro and Coby. "That would be the esteemed Captain Morgan," he said, rolling his eyes.

Captain Morgan was an extremely tall man. He had a large amount of muscles that most definitely overpowered his brain cells. He had very blonde, almost white hair and a steel jaw-like an actual jaw made of steel, probably from an old injury. He was appropriately deemed 'Axe Hand Morgan,' probably because of the fact that his right hand was gone and had been replaced with an actual axe. Quite an appropriate name for the man if I was being honest.

"Oi, Zoro, Aela, duck!" I dove for the ground as directed, and watched with big eyes as Luffy unleashed hell upon the marines. "Gomu gomu whip!" He yelled, and the boy extended his leg out, kicking all of the soldiers away. I watched Helmoppo's mouth drop in shock and laughed out loud. "That's so freaking cool!" I shouted, excitement soaring through me. This guy's my captain?

"A demon and a rubber boy?" I heard the Marines talking to themselves. "We don't stand a chance." I frowned when I heard them. They don't sound like bad people. They seemed a little reluctant to follow through with their captain's orders, and I realized then what was happening. None of the men respected their captain, they followed him out of pure fear, nothing more.

My conclusion was supported with Captain Morgan's next words. "This is a direct order: every marine that just spouted weakness, pull your gun out and shoot yourself!" I gasped in shock. What the hell?

"I can't do anything with weak soldiers," the man finished, and my face turned dark. Coward! "What babies," Zoro grumbled, preparing his swords again. "This'll be a piece of cake." I readied myself as well, concentrating on bringing my shield forward. Before anything else happened though, Luffy had charged forward. He cut straight through the marines, heading straight towards their over confident 'leader.'

I watched to see if any of the other marines would approach, but relaxed when I saw that they were in as much awe as the rest of us, abandoning their weapons and watching as the rubber boy made his way towards Captain Morgan. One well aimed kick to the face later, and Captain Morgan was out. The huge man hit the ground with a giant thud, and Luffy began scolding the cowardly wimp for ruining Coby's future dream of becoming a marine. He finished the fight out with a few more punches to the face.

"Straw hat!" a familiar voice rang through the air, and I groaned. "I would stop if you value your friend's life!" I looked over and cursed when I saw that Helmoppo had Coby in his grip, holding a gun to his head.

Luffy completely ignored the idiot, throwing another punch at Morgan. "Are you stupid or something?" Helmoppo said, shoving the gun at Coby harder, making the boy whimper, and I grit my teeth. "I said stop. If you would pay attention to me, I have a hostage situation here that calls for your attention!"

"Hey," Zoro said quietly, stopping Luffy from continuing his assault. Luffy finally stopped and looked towards the activity. "If you value your squatty little friend's life, you won't move a muscle!" He warned, and I scoffed in disgust when I noticed he was shaking like a leaf. He's too much of a coward to even follow through with his own threat!

"I'm serious - one move and I'll shoot him, I swear!" I highly doubted that, and I guess Luffy did too, because he just smiled. I noticed when he did that Coby stood straighter, and could practically feel the courage now soaring through him. "Luffy listen!" the boy began. "Don't let anything that happens to me stop you, no matter what. Even if I die!"

I smiled in pride towards the boy. _I'll be damned. He's not as big of a coward as I thought!_ Luffy began walking forward towards Helmoppo and Coby. Luffy began readying himself to send the dumbass flying, and the daddy's boy began visibly panicking, making more empty threats. Suddenly, multiple things happened.

Coby shouted a quick warning as Morgan stood up and had almost brought his axe down on Luffy's head. I quickly threw my hands out, erecting a shield over Luffy's head. The axe slammed down on the shield just in time, as the tip of the weapon had already made contact with the boy's straw hat. I grunted in pain when the shield shook, threatening to give out. Luffy looked up in awe at the shield, stars in his eyes.

I tensed when Morgan growled and threw the axe up again, preparing for a second hit. The shield wouldn't be strong enough a second time! He swung down again, but before it even came close to the shield Zoro was there. My brother intercepted the axe right as Luffy threw a punch at Helmoppo.

"Thanks," Luffy sent a grin in my brother's direction, along with mine, and I grinned right back. "No problem, cap!" and he laughed in delight. "Shishishi!" "Just doing my job, Captain," Zoro smiled around his sword, and then looked to me. "You alright?" His eyes scanned my form for a second, stopping at my leg ever so often. "I'm fine," I nodded, and he searched my eyes a quick moment before nodding in acceptance.

The marine soldiers were in shock. "Captain Morgan's been beaten." "Unbelievable! These guys are unreal!"

"If there's anyone who wants to step forward to fight," Zoro started, "Do so now." The marines exchanged glances before throwing their weapons into the air with loud cheers. Luffy was confused and spoke out as such. "That's weird. They're happy that their captain was defeated."

"They must've been afraid of him for a long time before we showed up," Coby explained, and I nodded in agreement. "They didn't respect him at all; they just followed him out of fear," I threw in, and Luffy looked at me very seriously for a moment.

Suddenly, Zoro collapsed on to the ground with a groan. "Zoro!" Coby shouted, but I just rolled my eyes. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" "What's wrong is this idiot hasn't eaten a proper meal in almost a month and just fought as though he was up to full strength," I scolded. "Shut up, Aela," he said half heartedly and I grinned.

"Don't worry, Coby," I said, kneeling down next to Zoro. "He's just hungry." I ran my hand soothingly through my brother's green hair, and he closed his eyes with a sigh, relaxing on to the ground.

Luffy laughed, watching our antics. "I'm hungry too! Let's go get some meat!"


	4. See ya later Coby!

We began making our way back to the bar to get some grub. We roused Zoro enough to where he was able to stand up on his own, although he was still learning pretty heavily on me. I was happy to support him until the bullet in my leg protested the extra weight. I held the both of us up for as long as I could, but my leg collapsed. I pulled myself up and reached for my brother who had passed out again, but before I could grab him Luffy had thrown him over his back.

"You should rest, Aela," he said, giving me an easy smile. "It's okay really," I said, attempting to reach for Zoro. "I can handle it." I reached out to take him from his back but Luffy evaded my hand. I looked up ready to argue, but his words made me stop. "You can trust me, Aela," he said, a sweet smile on his face. "We're nakama after all." I stopped in my tracks, staring at Luffy in shock.

I had already agreed to be a part of his crew, Zoro had as well, but I didn't realize exactly what that meant until Luffy actually said it.

Nakama. Family.

Zoro and I had been on our own for so long, just looking out for one another, that the idea of having someone else with us in our little family was completely foreign….but welcome. A large smile grew on my face at this realization, and I nodded at Luffy. He gave me a huge smile in return, and together, the four of us walked back to the bar.

… **..**

As soon as Zoro got a whip of the food he woke up, and promptly asked for a doctor for my leg. I was aggravated because I was starving myself, but I knew it was coming. He knew by now that I'd never say anything myself so he had to. Twenty minutes later and plenty of cursing, the bullet was out and my leg was wrapped up tight.

"Whew! I am stuffed!" Zoro announced, sitting back in the chair and rubbing his stomach in content. "I was ready to gnaw through my bootstraps after three weeks with no food!"

"Idiot," I said, still chewing on my meat.

"Shut up," Zoro grumbled and I childishly stuck my tongue out at him.

"I can't believe you're finished already. You're a lightweight!" Luffy scoffed. "How the hell can you have a bigger appetite than someone that hasn't eaten in almost a month?" Zoro asked, eyebrows raised in disbelief.

"Rubber man," I supplied, and Zoro nodded in thought.

"Speaking of that," Coby began, "You also have devil fruit abilities, right Aela?" "Yep," I nodded. "The Shield Shield fruit. I can create a shield around objects or people. I can even direct the shield inward."

"Woah!" Luffy said, stars in his eyes. "That's so cool!" "That is fascinating," Coby commented. "It's obviously more of a defensive move, but I wonder if you could use it as offensive also?"

"I've never tried," I said, my head tilting to the left a bit in thought. "I would have to play around with it. I'm not very good at it yet unfortunately. It takes a lot out of me, and unfortunately, I'm not completely immune to the attacks…"

"What do you mean?" Luffy said, but his voice was muffled as he had just shoved a giant chicken leg in his mouth.

"Well, my shield is an extension of me. It's connected to my strength as well which if why I can't hold it for very long. I'm still pretty weak," I said, voice fading out. Just then, I felt something thump into the back of my head.

I cursed, rubbing my head, glaring at Zoro who was still relaxed in his chair. "Hey!"

"Shut up," he said simply. "You're plenty strong, and as long as you work hard, you'll just get stronger." The ache in my head faded away and I looked at my brother softly for a second, before smacking the back of his head right back.

"Oi!" he said, sitting up in his chair and sending me a glare. I smiled at him sweetly while taking a long drink of my water.

I heard a childish giggle then and looked over to see Rika and her mother standing next to her table. "Hey!" I greeted, waving at them. "Thank you so much for the food, ma'am," Coby started, "It's delicious." I nodded strongly in agreement.

Rika's mother smiled at us saying, "It's my pleasure. You guys saved the town, so it's the least I could do really." Rika popped up near Luffy then. "You're the coolest person I've ever met!"

"Yeah I am," Luffy agreed, and I laughed. "He's very modest as well," I added. "I'll be more amazing when I'm King of the Pirates and have the One Piece." Luffy continued, ignoring me. "Oh and I'll have the best crew in the seas."

"So," Zoro grinned then. "Who else have you gathered for your crew besides me and my sister?" Luffy continued destroying food, shooting Zoro a look. "Hm?"

"You told me you were in the middle of gathering a crew for your ship," Zoro explained. "If you're gonna be King of the Pirates, you must already have several crew members lined up."

"Nope. Just the two of you," Luffy smiled, and my mouth dropped in surprise. "What?!" Zoro said, and I started laughing.

 _I should've known._ "We're what amounts to an entire crew?"

"What's wrong with that? The both of you are really strong," at that I scoffed, "The three of us together should be plenty of power."

"What about a ship?" I questioned, and Luffy pointed out the window to a tiny ship. I turned and looked on in disbelief, and watched as a dog came out from nowhere and began pissing on our supposed "ship." I began cracking up, holding my stomach at the force of my laughs.

"You're kidding," Zoro deadpanned. "Nope," Luffy grinned, "We'll have an enormous one before long, just wait and see."

Zoro started laughing then. "And how is that going to happen?" Luffy continued, "We'll have a great pirate flag on top." He shoved a piece of bread into his mouth. "I can't wait."

Zoro groaned, head in his hands. "I think Luffy was born without the part of the brain that was made for planning," Coby joked, and I giggled. "Can't believe I let myself get suckered into having _him_ as my captain."

"C'mon Zo-zo it's not that bad," I started, ignoring his, "Don't call me that!" protest. "Luffy said we were going to get more crew members and a bigger ship, and I believe him. We're nakama now, right?" I said, looking at Luffy. He sent me a huge smile in return and nodded, remembering our little talk from before.

"Luffy?" Rika spoke then. "Where are you and your crew going to travel when you leave here?" "Isn't it obvious?" Luffy laughed. "We're heading straight for the Grand Line."

PFFFFFFFTTT!

Coby sputtered, juice going everywhere. With tears in his eyes, and juice leaking from his nose he said, " No way! You're crazy! You only have 3 crew members. There's no way in hell you're equipped enough to head to the Grand Line, Luffy!"

"We need at least five," I nodded, and Coby snapped, "That's not what I meant! The Grand Line is a vicious place, some have even called it a pirate graveyard! No one makes it out of the Grand Line alive!"

"No one, huh?" I repeated wryly. "Then where do you suppose all of the stories come from?"

Rika's mom spoke up then, looking very concerned. "I have heard stories about it from other people passing through this area. The weather goes to extreme highs and lows constantly. It's a place that's completely unpredictable."

"The Grand Line is dangerous, Luffy," Coby finished. Luffy nodded and looked to be pondering their words. "That's really too bad," he said, "cause that's where the One Piece is said to be, and that's exactly where we're going."

"I guess we just have to live with it," Zoro said, looking completely unbothered. "Why are you so bothered, Coby?" I questioned, looking at the pink haired boy who appeared very distraught. "Are you going with us?"

"Of course not," he said vehemently shaking his head, "but I still worry. Should I not? I haven't known you guys for very long but I still consider you to be my friends. Wouldn't you say?" he finished, looking down. I smiled gently and got up, giving the boy the tightest hug I could manage. "Absolutely, Coby," I said pulling away, giggling at the light blush he now had.

"Of course!" Luffy agreed as well. "We may be parting ways, but we'll always be friends." "Hey. You there." We all turned around and watched as a group of marines came through the door. "We heard that you fellas are actually pirates..is this rumor correct?" one of the men questioned.

"That's right," Luffy answered. "I just added two new members to my crew as well. So the whole thing is pretty much official at this point."

"We appreciate everything all of you did to save our town from the horrible tyrant. He terrorized us for the longest time," the marine began, "However, now that you're classified yourself as pirates, as Marines I'm afraid we can't sit idly by and watch you go about your business. Therefore, you and your new crew are being ordered to leave this town immediately." At his words, the people in the bar began protesting. The Marine continued, voice louder to speak above everyone, "But, out of respect for what you've done, we will not report you to headquarters."

The townspeople continued to berate the Marines, dissatisfied with their ungrateful actions. My brother and I glanced at Luffy, curious to see how he would handle this situation.

He laughed of course. "Heh. Well, time to go guys. Thanks for all of the food, lady." Zoro and I stood up, and while Luffy and Zoro made their way to the door, I walked over to Rika and her mother.

"Thank you both so much for everything," I said, bowing deeply. I felt a hand on my shoulder then and looked up to see Rika's mother, smiling at me with tears in her eyes. "Thank you," she said, pulling me into a hug. "Your brother saved my daughter and then you all saved the town. All thanks go to you."

Before I could respond, my shirt was yanked on and I looked down to see Rika sending me a giant smile. "I'll miss you!" I giggled and leaned down to give her a hug. "I'll miss you too squirt." I ruffled her hair and then stood up to full height, making my way to the door to stand with my brother and Luffy.

The three of us were almost out the door when we heard the Marine addressing Coby. "Hold it. Is he with you or what?"

I held my breath, body tense. This situation would determine whether or not Coby would be able to become a marine. "I can tell you that he's been pretty busy up until this point," Luffy started. "Yeah...there was this huge, fat pirate lady named Alvida. She carried around this huge iron club and geeze, she was the nastiest looking woman I've ever seen." Luffy walked over to Coby and began poking him in the head. "For two years this wimpy kid was her own private Cabin boy."

Coby became obviously distressed at this point, and lashed out at straw hat, punching him in the cheek. The marines and bar were shocked. Luffy struck back, delivering a few punches in retaliation. I was in shock myself until I realized what Luffy was doing.

Zoro stepped in after a bit. "Enough," he spoke, stopping the captain, "You've made your point. Let him fall to the ground."

"It's obvious you're not crewmates, so stop bothering the poor kid and take your leave of our town right this instant," the Marine ordered.

"Let's go, guys," I said, and the boys nodded. We all left the bar to head to the docks, moving in silence. Zoro shot Luffy a smile. "That was some act you put on in there. I wouldn't be surprised if they saw right through it though." Luffy laughed. "Coby should be able to handle the rest on his own. I have complete faith in him."

"It is a fitting way to leave this place," Zoro nodded. "Unable to turn back because everyone here hates us now."

I agreed with him, nodding in contemplation. "Yes, very pirate-y of us, indeed."

"Pirate-y isn't a word, Aela," Zoro said, and I stuck my tongue out at him. "Well it should be!" I countered.

"Luffy!" We all looked up at the voice, and was surprised to see Coby standing with Rika and her mother nearby. I felt amusement run through me when the pink haired boy threw us all a salute. "I can never thank you all enough! You've done more for me than anyone ever has."

"A Marine thanking a pirate? That's new," I said, smiling. "That's one for the history book," Zoro agreed. Luffy grinned and hopped on the boat. He dropped the sail once we were all on and we waved goodbye to Coby.

"We'll meet again, Coby! Some day!" he called. "Good luck!" I said, waving at the boy.

"We're finally ready to set sail," Luffy announced as the town faded into the distance.

I had a feeling that sailing with Luffy was going to be anything but boring, but I was ready for whatever life chose to spit at us.


	5. Damn it Luffy!

I was leaning over the edge of our tiny boat, running my hand over the surface of the water, watching it ripple. Zoro was stretched out beside me, seemingly unaware of the world around him.

I knew better though.

Every time I leaned over too far trying to catch sight of a fish, I felt a hand lightly gripping my shirt, pulling my body back until I was safe within the boat again.

¨I´m hungry,¨ Luffy whined, and I looked over my shoulder at him to see him also leaning over the railing of the boat, looking completely pitiful. ¨You ate the last of our food an hour ago,¨ Zoro grumbled, and Luffy groaned. ¨How long before we reach land?¨ I questioned, feeling pity for the boy.

¨Who knows?¨ Luffy replied, looking out to the sea with a blank look on his face. ¨That´s up to the wind and the sea,¨ he finished, and I laughed lightly at his carefree voice. ¨We´ll get to an island eventually.¨

¨You sound as though you don´t know the first thing about navigation,¨ Zoro mused, and Luffy shrugged. ¨Ï just drift. I wait to see where the boat takes me.¨ He looked over and raised an eyebrow at us. ¨What about you two? Do you know how to navigate?¨

I snorted. ¨Zoro-nii here just happens to be a navigational genius.¨ Zoro threw me a glare. ¨Really?¨ Luffy said, shooting up from his slouched position, eyes shining with excitement. I laughed, shaking my head.

¨No way. He sucks.¨ I said bluntly, grunting when he smacked the back of my head. ¨Shut up! Like you're any better.¨ I shrugged. He was right. We both sucked.

¨Aren't you a great bounty hunter or something though?¨ Luffy asked Zoro, sounding suspicious. I laughed. ¨If by great you mean lazy, then yes,¨ I said, and Luffy looked confused. ¨I don't recall ever saying I was a bounty hunter,¨ Zoro clarified. ¨I went out to sea to look for a certain man...¨

¨...and then he got lost...¨ I finished, nodding. ¨Oi!" Zoro said indignantly. ¨I didn't get lost. I was searching.¨

¨Wait, really?¨ Luffy asked me, laughing, ignoring the last bit of Zoro´ś remark. I giggled. ¨Yep. The whole bounty hunter thing isn't necessarily true. The only reason we started catching pirates is cuz we were starving and needed money. Rumors began to spread though, and people began calling Zoro-nii a bounty hunter. We never bothered denying it, and the name just stuck,¨ I shrugged.

¨So you two got lost and didn't know how to get back home,¨ Luffy nodded, sounding as though he had everything figured out. ¨I didn't get lost!¨ Zoro shouted at him, his body shooting up toward the young captain. His body bumped mine when he set up, and the force of it all made our tiny mode of transportation rock wildly, making my body lean back a little too far over the boat.

I gasped and waved my arms around frantically, trying to regain my balance. Zoro was shaking his fist in the captain's face when he heard his sister gasp. He looked over at her to see that her body was half in, half out of the boat. He cursed and lunged over, launching himself at her.

Her body had just fallen into the water when he got to her, and he reached down, quick as lightning, grabbing onto her arm as she began to sink. He easily pulled her back up into the boat, sitting her soaked form in his lap.

I breathed in and out, trying to catch my breath. Zoro-nii rubbed my back, looking at me apologetically. I smiled at him half-heartedly.

Luffy looked at the brother and sister duo curiously. He opened his mouth to ask if Aela was okay, when suddenly, a sharp breeze flew by, blowing the captain´s straw hat off of his head. Luffy watched on in horror, looking as though he was going to jump out of the boat for his treasure.

The hat blew towards Zoro and I. I reached my hand up to try and grab it but it was just out of my reach. Zoro gently moved me off of his lap, standing up halfway in the boat to reach for the hat. He managed to grab the very edge of it before it sailed completely out of reach.

Zoro wordlessly handed the captain's treasure back to him, and Luffy held onto the hat, gazing at it seriously. The hat obviously meant a lot to him. I made a personal vow to keep an eye on the hat and help him protect his treasure. My brother and I were now apart of Luffy's crew, meaning that if the hat was important to Luffy, it was important to me.

Everything was silent at this point, and the boat traveled peacefully through the water, the now soft breeze catching our sail and moving us steadily through the water. My energy level was low from the activity earlier, and I was hungry which never helped.

I yawned and snuggled into oniichan. He glanced over at me and shifted, and I sighed in satisfaction when I found my comfy spot. I felt Zoro-nii´s hands playing with my curls, gently pulling on them, and the world around me slowly faded away.

… **.**

¨Sit down, idiot!¨ I woke up to the sound of Zoro berating Luffy. I blinked blearily, rubbing my eyes and smacking my lips. I sat up and shoved my hands through my hair, looking around at my surroundings. ¨Ẅhaz goin´ on?¨ I said sleepily. I was always out of it after a nap. Finally getting my senses back, I looked up to see Luffy sitting across from me, drool pouring heavily out of his mouth. He was looking upwards to the sky, and I followed his gaze to see a bird high up in the sky.

¨Food,¨ Luffy said, sounding like a zombie. ¨Uh, Luffy,¨ I started, looking at him worriedly. He was planning something. ¨That bird is a little too far away...¨

¨You´re gonna tip the boat over, dumb ass!¨ Zoro shouted, grabbing a hold of the edge of the boat when Luffy surged up. ¨Uhhh...¨ I started, looking up at the rubber boy. What was he about to….

¨Gomu gomu...¨ he started, winding his arm back. ¨Luffy don´t…" I said, standing up as well. Like an idiot, I grabbed on to my captain´s arm, trying in vain to get him to sit back down. ¨Aela let go,¨ Zoro said, panic in his voice. He quickly shot up from his seat. He had obviously figured out what I had. He reached out to grab my arm to get me let go of the Captain, but it was too late.

¨Rocket!¨ Luffy finished, and suddenly, I was in the air. I screamed in shock, looking down at the boat that was slowly fading into the distance. I could faintly hear Zoro screaming for me, but the wind blowing around my body and the shock of the situation dulled my senses. In desperation I latched as hard as I could on to Luffy. It felt like we had been in the air for several years, when finally, we made it to the bird. Luffy grasped my waist and swung the both of us around, and I was shocked to discover that the bird was a lot bigger than what I had first suspected, because we were currently riding the damn thing!

¨Oh God Oh God Oh God...¨ I chanted to myself over and over, on the verge of hyperventilation. I was ridiculously afraid of heights, and this..this was my worst nightmare come to life. ¨Aela, you ok?¨ Luffy asked, when he noticed I had loosened my grip around him. In fact, it had tightened.

¨...scared of heights….¨ I whispered, trying desperately not to look down. Luffy pulled me closer to him when I said that, and I was grateful for the comfort. We sailed on top of the bird for a few seconds, and I was about to begin calming my heart down, when suddenly, an awful thought hit me.

¨Luffy...how are we going to get down?¨ I gulped, and he looked at me with wide eyes. Luffy leaned over the side of the bird making me yelp. ¨Zoro help!¨ he cried, and I could very faintly here Zoro calling Luffy a dumbass, but it might've just been my imagination.

I had my eyes closed as tightly as possible and was trying to block out the situation. ¨Look Aela, a town!¨ Luffy spoke, and I squinted my eyelids open an inch or two, discovering that he was correct. We were quickly approaching a town. The bird flew very quickly, and if we weren't careful, we were going to soar over it and be stuck in the air forever, which is something I would never allow.

Apparently my captain agreed with me, because just then, he yelled out, ¨That´s enough from you bird!¨ and began kicking the bird in the side. I screamed when the bird squawked out an indignant cry and began careening side to side, trying to shake us off.

Luffy threw his foot down again, and suddenly, we were in the air again. This time though, we were falling towards the ground. Fear shot through me, and my voice got caught in my throat so I wasn't even able to scream out.

We were flying towards the ground at an insanely fast speed, and although I was sure that Luffy would be okay due to his rubber body, I sure as hell wouldn't be. We were about fifteen seconds from hitting the ground, and I grit my teeth, holding my hand out, and began trying to form a shield around mine and my captain´s body. I cursed when the shield appeared but quickly flickered away.

Seconds before impact, I pushed my hand out again, and the shield's outer edges were formed. Yet again, the shield flickered away before it could form completely, and I felt panicked tears come to my eyes.

Heart beating wildly in my chest, I thrust my hand out one final time, and a bubble formed around Luffy and I, shielding us from the ground right as we slammed into the dirt. The breath was stolen from my body at the impact, and we rolled several times in the shield before coming to rest at the foot of a giant tree.

I was breathing roughly in and out, my eyes were still slammed shut, and a few tears had leaked out and were sliding down my face. I felt the shield fade away, and was surprised that instead of feeling the hard ground underneath me, I was lying on top of something soft. I cracked open my eyes and was shocked to see Luffy had rolled himself underneath me. While I was trying to get the shield to work, Luffy had wrapped himself around me, shifting me underneath him so he would slam into the ground instead of me.

I blinked at him owlishly and he looked at me concernedly. ¨Are you okay?¨ he started, and I was surprised when he reached up and wiped a tear off of my cheek. He slowly released me and I quickly climbed off of him, smiling at him sheepishly. ¨I´m fine,¨ I confirmed, reaching my hand towards him to help him up. ¨Sorry about that,¨ I continued. ¨I didn't mean to freak out on you.¨ He studied me for a few seconds longer before laughing and grabbing my hand. I pulled the both of us up and we smiled at each other in relief.

For a second there I was afraid that he was going to make a comment about my obvious weakness, but after thinking that I felt a bit silly. I hadn´t known Luffy long, but I didn't think he would ever do something like that.

¨She´s getting away!¨ we heard two voices shout, and looked over to see an orange haired chick running away from two thug looking guys. ¨Sorry, they're all yours now,¨ the orange haired girl called out as she passed us, waving smugly.

Wait,what?

The two guys stopped when they saw us, and both groups studied each other for a bit. ¨Sup,¨ I waved, and they grinned. ¨We couldn't grab that girl, but this one'll do,¨ one of them spoke, leering at me. He took a step towards me and I gagged, disgusted.

Luffy took a small step in front of me, and I looked at him curiously.¨Do you know where we can eat around here?¨ Luffy asked suddenly, and I sweat dropped. ¨Cap, I don't think they're who we should be asking about that….¨

¨Yeah kid, just follow us,¨ the second thug said creepily and stepped toward us.

Before I could move away, the first thug had grabbed hold of my arm. The other man, bless his soul, threw a punch out at Luffy, catching him in the face. Luffy was jolted back, and his hat was thrown into the air. Luffy grabbed his hat, quick as a whip, and in the same motion, swung his arm back and punched the man away, sending him flying into the air away from us. The pirate captain put his hat safely back on his head.

The thug was still hanging tightly onto my arm, but it was more out of shock than anything. His mouth was hanging open, frozen, as he gazed at my Captain fearfully. I shivered a bit when I looked at Luffy. His straw hat was hanging down over his eyes, and his jaw was tense. His carefree persona that surrounded him had somehow disappeared, and a dark aura took its place.

¨Let go of her arm,¨ he said simply, and the man nodded, robotically releasing my arm and stepping away from me. Luffy waited till he had taken a few steps away from me before punching the man and sending him flying in the same direction his friend had gone.

The men got up from where they´d been thrown and ran away, not looking back. Luffy turned to me and smiled widely. ¨Shishishi, let´s go find some food!¨

I sweat dropped at the quick change of emotion, but quickly shrugged it off. He was obviously very protective of his crew members. I certainly couldn't talk; Zoro and I were the same way, more so at times depending on the severity of the situation. I smiled at him widely and we began walking towards the smell of food that was wafting through the air. My stomach grumbled loudly.

 _I want some noodles._ My mouth watered at the thought. Yet again though, right before we made it fully into the town, we heard a voice yell down at us from a rooftop. I growled out loud in frustration. I was really freaking hungry, and all of these interruptions were making me irritated rather quickly.

¨Youŕe really strong!¨ the voice cried out, and I sighed again when I saw it was the orange haired girl from earlier. She wasn´t exactly on my good side right now; I didn´t appreciate being used. The girl jumped down from the roof and landed in front of me.

¨Hey Aela, do you know this girl?¨ Luffy asked, and I shook my head. ¨Nope. Never seen her.¨

¨My name´s Nami. I'm a thief and I steal from pirates. Wanna join up with me?¨ she asked, and I looked on in exasperation when she finished her sentence with a wink. She propped her hand on her hip and tilted her chest up, showcasing her impressive cleavage.

I was unimpressed, and I had a feeling Luffy was as well. On top of that, why the hell would we team up with someone that stole from pirates? We were pirates. There's no way we would ever be able to trust her.

¨No thanks,¨ Luffy answered simply, obviously agreeing with me, and we walked around the girl. I waved sweetly and winked back at her, smirking when an angry tick appeared on her forehead. ¨Hey wait a second!¨ she called to us.

¨I said wait!¨ she repeated, running towards us when we made no obvious motions to stop.

¨I´ll treat you to food,¨ she yelled, and I had to swallow at the drool that immediately began forming. Luffy and I stopped at the same time, and the girl smiled triumphantly.

Damn my food weakness, and damn her using it against me.

We followed the girl into town and she led us to a small, cute looking house. ¨Is this your home?¨ I questioned her after I finished off my humongous sandwich. She shook her head. ¨I don't live in this town. Everyone has left because of Buggy.¨

¨Who´s Buggy?¨ Luffy questioned, spitting food out as he did so. I grimaced and and leaned a bit away from him. ¨So whose house is this?¨ I asked, and before she could answer, Luffy spoke. ¨I thought you said you only stole from pirates.¨

¨I did!¨ she answered, almost sounding offended. ¨Don't compare me to scumbag petty thieves!¨

¨But you are,¨ I answered innocently, confused. ¨Shut up!¨ she yelled, smacking me in the head. I winced, and rubbed my poor head, pouting. She almost hit harder than Zoro-nii. ¨Anyway,¨ she started, sending me another quick glare, ¨my goal is to earn 100 million bellis to buy an island. I'll do it no matter what,¨ she ended.

¨Why do you need that much money?¨ I asked, curious. ¨It's a secret,¨ she winked, and my eyebrow raised. Whatever.

¨But with a map to the Grand Line, it should be easy to collect that amount!¨ she said, and her eyes lit up. Luffy turned to Nami, confused. ¨A map? Are you a navigator?¨ ¨I'm much more skilled than your average navigator,¨ she confirmed, and I sighed. I knew what was coming.

¨Really?¨ Luffy said, and I smiled. Called it. ¨Join my crew!¨ ¨Crew?¨ she said, looking disgusted all of a sudden. ¨No way in hell! So you two are pirates?¨ I nodded. ¨Hence why we decided not to join you in your thievy ways.¨

¨There´s nothing in this world I hate more than pirates,¨ Nami said vehemently. ¨I only like money and tangerines.¨ I snorted; the girl was definitely honest if nothing else. ¨Awww,¨ Luffy whined. ¨Be my navigator!¨

¨I said no!¨ I rolled my eyes. This would go on for a while. ¨I´ll join your crew on one condition,¨ she said, and I frowned. That didn't sound good. We couldn´t trust this girl. I opened my mouth to turn her down, but my captain spoke before I could. ¨Name it!¨ Damn it Luffy.

¨Come with me to Buggy headquarters.¨ I covered Luffý´s mouth up quickly, knowing that he was about to agree.

¨Why the hell would we do that?¨

Luffy licked my hand and I yanked it away from his mouth, shocked. ¨What the hell Luffy!¨

¨We´ll do it!¨ he shouted, and I groaned, smacking my hand on my forehead.

Damn it Luffy.


	6. Fuckin' Clowns

Ten minutes later, we were tied up, and I was pissed.

¨What. The. Hell,¨ I ground out, wanting to smack the shit out of the girl, and my captain for getting me into this stupid ass situation.

"What the hell?!" I screamed out, grunting as we were thrown into a cage. The cage was just big enough to hold Luffy and I, and my fear of tight spaces was slamming into me. Fear makes me angry.

"I'll kill her," I seethed, glaring darkly at the girl. She flinched when she saw the look I was giving her, and a part of me was pleased.

"Shishishi," Luffy laughed, and I turned my glare onto my captain. "Why are you laughing?" I asked, trying to fight off the urge to bite his nose. "Calm down, Aela," he soothed, and I was surprised that he was able to tell that my anger was more panic than anything. "Everything is gonna be fine. Nami's got a plan."

"We don't know that, Luffy!" I argued, flinching as music started playing and pirates dressed like clowns started to dance in front of us. "We don't know this girl, and she could literally choose to betray us whenever she wants to."

"She won't," he answered simply, and I sighed. "Whatever." I set back and watched the clown pirates, who I was assuming at this point were a point of Buggy's crew, drink and party.

Zoro was gonna be so pissed at me.

I looked over at Luffy when I felt a tug against our ropes, and gaped as I watched him stretch his arms through the cage bars, struggling to grab a piece of meat on one of the tables that were filled with food. "Luffy!" I hissed, and he glanced at me while still reaching. "What?" he questioned, now sticking his tongue out with the force of his concentration.

I looked from him to the hand that was now feeling around the table for meat, and sighed again. I seemed to do that a lot around my captain. "Get me a chicken leg," I said, deciding to just go along with it.

If ya can't beat em…

His fingertips had just made contact with the bone of a chicken leg, when I guess his elasticity ran out, and his arm slammed back into the cage. The force of it caused him to ram into me, and I fell back and smacked my head on one of the bars. I groaned and shook my head, pain running through me. "Damn it Luffy," I moaned, and he looked at me pitifully. "Sorry, Aela" he pouted. "I was trying to get a piece of meat so we could join the party."

"We don't need to join this kinda party Cap," I said, studying the big red nosed dude that had just shown up to the party. "I'm guessing big nose over there is Buggy," I commented, and Luffy nodded, grinning. "Probably," he answered.

We watched as Nami talked and laughed with the Buggy captain and his crew, and a shiver went threw me when I noticed the painted on smile the captain had on his face. "Fuckin' clowns," I muttered. "Hmm?" Luffy questioned, giving me a side glance.

"I hate clowns," I said louder. "These don't seem that bad," he said, and I shook my head. "It's not that. I just don't like what they represent. I don't understand the painted on smiles. The idea of someone being happy all of the time is creepy. Not only that, but fake emotion freaks me out," I shuddered, and Luffy studied me seriously for a moment.

"So it's the noses right?" he said randomly, and I sweat dropped. The sound of a match being lit caught my attention and I turned towards the clowns. One of the crew was busy lighting a cannon, and I gasped when I saw where it was pointed. "Luffy that's gonna hit the town," I said, anger rushing through me. A big BOOM filled the air when the cannon was fired, and I watched as the ball was launched into the air. My face was frozen in shock as I watched the ball fly through houses and businesses.

"Bastards," I cursed, teeth grinding together. "Bastards!" Luffy shouted out. Big nose laughed at the destruction and turned towards Nami. "With this power I will rule the Grand Line." I rolled my eyes. He wasn't gonna rule anything with just a damn cannon. If I wasn't tied up I could destroy that thing with one punch.

"I'm the one who's gonna rule the Grand Line!" Luffy shouted out, and Big Nose turned to us then. "What did you say boy?"

"I'm going to rule the Grand Line!" he repeated, and I smiled at him. "I'm going to be the king of the pirates!" Big Nose burst into laughter along with all of his crew mates. I scowled watching them mock my captain's dream.

"I can see why you're sick of him, Nami," he commented, and Nami spoke then, her voice sickly sweet, making me want to gag. "Exactly. He takes the world so lightly..he misunderstands everything. I couldn't take it anymore."

They laughed together, and the sound made me actually gag. "You okay?" Luffy said, watching me. "Fake emotions," I said simply, and he nodded in understanding.

"As a parting gift to give to your boss, I'll give you one of my buggy balls to blow these two idiots away and prove your loyalty to the buggy crew," Buggy told Nami, who paled a little. The crew began shouting and cheering, egging Nami on. The cannon was picked up and turned towards mine and Luffy's cage, and I cursed. I began moving my wrist back and forth against the ropes. If I could just get my hands free…

When the canon was finally in position, the Buggy crew stood in anticipation of what the orange haired girl would do next. Nami merely stood next to the cannon, not moving, seemingly frozen. I could sense her hesitation and breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't going to do it. I didn't trust the girl yet, but I knew now that she wasn't a killer.

A cheap thief….but not a killer. I moved my wrist faster and faster, wincing at the pain. The rough ropes were digging into my wrists, scraping them. I bit my tongue, ignoring the annoying burning sensation and kept going. If I could get my wrists to bleed well enough I would be able to escape the ropes and throw a shield around our cage.

I had never had the force of a cannonball thrown against my shield, but I had to at least try. "Alright! Light it flashily!" Buggy commanded, and a man came up with a match, trying to hand it off to Nami. She hesitantly reached out to take it, and I tried not to shout out in triumph when I felt blood begin to trail down my arm. Just a little bit more…

"Don't wimp out on me now, Nami," Luffy called to the girl, and she looked at him with hooded eyes. The two seemed to study one another for a bit, and I saw Nami make the subtlest head nod to herself. She'd obviously just made a decision, and I hoped it would be in our favor.

"What's the matter?" Luffy continued calling to her. "Your hands are shaking," he taunted, and she balled her hands into fists as his remark. "This is what happens when you take on pirates with a half ass resolve."

"Resolve to do what?" she shot back, walking towards us. "To kill? To kill others like it's nothing," she bit out scathingly. I realized then that Nami had obviously had experience with pirates. The bad kind. "Is that a pirate's resolve?" she finished, sneering down at us.

"Of course not," I spoke up then, and she looked at me as if just remembering that I was there. "The resolve is to put your own life on the line for what you believe in." Nami stopped in her tracks when I said that, looking at us with dark eyes. She lowered her head then, turning to walk back towards the cannon. The Buggy Pirates grinned, thinking that they had won the girl over.

She just stood next to the cannons though, and I guess one of the buggy crew lost their patience with her, because he snatched the box of matches from his crew mate and lit the fuse of the cannon himself. Nami squeaked in surprise, and I tensed up. Blood was coating both of my wrists at this point, and I began tugging on the knot, bending my wrists in every way possible to loosen the damn thing.

"C'mon, c'mon," I muttered, yanking harder as the fuse grew shorter. Luffy maneuvered himself in front of me and I inwardly huffed. Like that would do anything. We were both about to be blown into bits and pieces.

I had finally managed to free one of my damn hands from the knot, when suddenly, I heard several of Buggy's crew members cry out. I looked up to see that Nami had whacked the shit out of the man who had lit the cannon fuse. She was holding a long bo-staff in her hand. _Where the hell did she get that?_ I thought to myself incredulously.

All hell broke loose then. Pirates began yelling, attacking the girl, and I yelled triumphantly when both of my hands were freed from the knot. "Yes!" I shouted, holding my hands up. Luffy looked over at me with a grin. "You did it!" he congratulated and I laughed. Of course he knew what I was doing.

Nami was in the middle of beating the shit out of Buggy's crew, but there were way more of them than she could fight off, and she was getting overwhelmed. "The fuse!" I yelled out when I noticed it was quickly dwindling away. Nami jerked her head over when she heard me, and before I knew it, had jumped towards the cannon, and thrust both of her hands _over the fuse._ My mouth dropped in shock and she cried out in pain at the fire burning her. "Woah," I whispered, and winced with her when she pulled her hands away, gingerly inspecting them. I can't believe she did that…She definitely just earned some brownie points from me.

My attention was diverted when I noticed one of the bastards sneaking up behind her with a club in his hand, and I threw my hands out as quick as I could. "Shield extend!" I cried, and a shield was formed around the girl right as the pirate yelled and sent the club down to hit the unsuspecting teenager in the back of the head.

He squawked in surprise upon seeing the shield, and Luffy burst into laughter. I smirked at the man when he started freaking out. "What the hell?!" he shouted, poking the shield with his weapon. Nami heard the man and turned towards him and gaped when she noticed what looked to be a bubble surrounding her. "What the hell is this?!" she shouted, jumping back a bit.

"That's mine!" I yelled to her, and she jerked her head towards me. I winked at her playfully. "I ate the shield shield fruit. You're welcome." She continued gaping at me, surprise running through her at not only my devil fruit power, but the fact that I had protected her with them. She was sure at that point that the younger girl hated her.

The pirate, finally getting over his shock of the situation, growled and began pummeling the shield with his club. Nami cried out and ducked away, thinking that the shield would fail, but it held strong. I was handling the abuse pretty well, but one particular hard hit made me wince. The shield was connected to me, and while I couldn't feel the actual _blows,_ I could still feel the attack.

Luffy had been watching the activity up to this point, and when he noticed my wince he jumped into action. "Hey!" he shouted, and threw a punch out at the man attacking Nami. His arm stretched through the bars, and the punch slammed into the pirate, sending him flying into one of the nearby buildings. I sighed in relief when I was able to take my shield down. "Thanks for that, Cap," I said, wiping sweat off of my forehead. "No problem," he grinned.

"Now that isn't very nice," I heard a deep voice say, and my heart jumped. _That sounded like…_ "Ganging up on one girl like that." Sure enough, my brother was standing over five of the men, swords out and the ever familiar dark smirk on his face.

"Zoro!" I called out, and his head whipped over in my direction. "Aela?" he questioned, dropping his fighting stance in surprise. "Hey!" I waved, giving him a huge smile in greeting. I watched as he took notice of the situation I was in, and his face got tighter as he grew angry. "What the hell are you doing in a cage?" he questioned me, and I shrugged. "That's what I was trying to figure out."

"It took you long enough to get here!" I berated him and he scoffed at me as he attacked the pirates. "You got lost didn't you.." I threw out, and he quickly looked over at me with shark teeth. "You shut up! You're the stupid one in a damn cage!" "It's not my fault!" I yelled out, my own shark teeth forming.

"Zoro you came!" Luffy shouted, laughing at us. "Did you get lost?" he asked innocently. "He totally did!" I said, pointing at my brother as I laughed loudly. "Shut up!" Zoro roared.

"Zoro? Did I hear the bitch say Zoro?" I heard a voice question. "Watch your mouth," Zoro commanded, and I realized that it was Big Nose who'd spoken. "Well," the blue haired captain continued, "If it isn't the famous pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro. Are you here for my head?" Zoro just glared at him. "I gave up pirate hunting," he said, and nodded towards Luffy and I. "I'm here for my friends."

"Friends huh?" Buggy repeated. "I'm pretty sure the tiny bitch in the cage is more than just a friend," he smarted off, and Zoro growled at him. "I told you to watch your mouth."

"Well…" Buggy snickered. "I'm interested in you. Killing you would be a nice feather in my cap. Zoro smirked at the clown darkly. "I'm about to pluck all your feathers then." "Yeah!" I shouted, surging upwards, smacking my head into the bars. "Damn this cage!" I shouted, and grabbed the bars. "Get me out of this thing!" I yelled angrily, shaking the bars.

"Die flashily!" I heard Buggy say, and the clown charged at my brother. Zoro moved as well, slashing Buggy clean in two, and cutting his arm in the process. Complete silence fell over the area. The pirates began laughing, and I leaned back, stunned. Why the hell were they laughing?

"Unreal," Tangerine girl muttered. "Their captain is lying dead on the ground, and they're laughing." My eyebrows creased, and I felt unsettled. "Something's wrong.." I said lowly. "Why are they laughing?" The unease in me built,and I felt a huge amount of concern for my brother. I hated being behind bars while he was out fighting! He was way too vulnerable, and out of instinct, I threw my hands out, encasing him in a shield.

Zoro made no comment on the bubble that had appeared around him out of thin air. He merely glanced at me out of the corner of his eye and quickly looked forward again, body tense. He felt just as uneasy as I did.

The next moment proved that my concern was warranted, because just then, I felt a sharp pain in my side. I cried out in surprise and pain. "Aela!" Luffy shouted, hands on my shoulders in support. "What's wrong?" His dark eyes searched me up and down, looking for the source of my pain.

"It feels like I'm being stabbed," I grit out, and he gasped. Just then we heard a creepy ass laugh. "That sounded like…" Luffy breathed out, and we saw that a knife had pierced the side of my shield, and was inches away from being in my brother's side. I cried out again when the knife moved further into the shield trying to reach Zoro.

The swordsman quickly grabbed hold of the knife, and yelled out when he noticed there was a disembodied hand attached to the end of the knife. "What the hell!" he yelled, and I panted roughly, pain going through me.

I shared his sentiments. What kind of fucking weirdo were we dealing with here?


	7. Mayor Boodle

"Was that Buggy?" Nami asked, voice high pitched. She sounded about as freaked out as I was. The feelings increased in the next second, when the clown pirate's severed head, arm and torso began floating off of the ground and flew towards each other, surging back together. "What the hell is this guy?" Zoro breathed out.

Buggy laughed darkly when he finally had all of his parts back. "The chop chop fruit!" he exclaimed, and I felt like a dumbass. Of course. Devil fruit. "What the hell is that?!" Luffy questioned. He still hadn't let go of my shoulders, and I was grateful. The pain was quickly receding, but damn if it didn't still hurt like a bitch. "I'm a chop chop man!" Buggy clarified, throwing his arms out. "I can't be defeated by simple swordplay!"

"Chop-chop man?" Luffy repeated. "This guy's a freak!" I laughed despite myself. "Pot meet kettle," I said to Luffy, and he tilted his head at me like a confused puppy. Suddenly, Buggy launched his fist at our cage, and a knife was flying towards us. I went to throw my hands out, but Luffy grabbed my arms and forced them back down before I could use my devil fruit.

I cried out in shock when the knife hit Luffy head on. _Why the hell didn't he let me block it?_

I was relieved but highly confused when blood didn't splatter into the air upon impact. Luffy's head had tilted back due to the force of the throw, and he slowly moved it back down. My mouth dropped open when I discovered that my captain had somehow caught the knife _in his teeth_!

He grinned around the knife, and bit down, snapping the steel in half. "Buggy…" he began, and his voice sent shivers through me. "Once I get outta here, I swear I'm gonna kick your ass!" His dark eyes stared Buggy down for several more seconds, and then he grinned over at my brother. "Hey Zoro!" the boy started. "Run!"

Nami looked back and forth at us and Buggy. She looked like she was about to lose her fricken mind, and I snorted at the thought.

Zoro ran towards our cage at our captain's command, no hesitation on his part. Buggy tried intercepting him, but the green haired teenager simply cut him in half again. It might not kill him, but it took a little bit for him to get all of his parts together again, which gave us some time to get the hell away.

Zoro made it to the cannon, ducking underneath it. He put both hands on the mouth of it and began pushing it with all of his strength. It took four of Buggy's men to move it, but only one Zoro.

"Nami, the matches!" I called out, and she jumped. She took her pole and whacked the man who was holding the matches. Picking them up with shaking hands, she lit the fuse.

 **BOOM!**

The Buggy Ball shot out from the cannon, blasting the other end of the tavern to bits. I heard Buggy's scream of terror, and then blessed silence.

"Holy shit," I breathed out, finally able to relax when we made it out of the war zone in one piece. "No kidding…" Zoro agreed, and I looked down at him from the cage.

I studied our surroundings. We were in front of a pet food shop. I didn't see any of Buggy's men around. "You can probably put us down now, Nii-chan," I said, and he nodded. When we were on ground level again, I started a bit seeing a dog staring at us. The dog wasn't moving, and he looked awful serious. He was watching us like a hawk...like a...hawk-dog….I snorted in amusement at my dumb-ass thought, and Zoro rolled his eyes at me, mumbling under his breath.

"Doggy!" Luffy exclaimed, moving closer to the front of the cage. I laughed; he got excited so easily. He moved the cage closer to the dog, and when close enough, began poking it.

"Luffy stop," I scolded, slapping his hand down. "Leave him alone," I finished, sounding like his mother. "But Aela," he whined, poking it again, "He looks dead." He poked it between the eyes, and apparently, that was the moment the dog had reached his limit with the rubber boy, because the next thing I knew, he'd bitten Luffy's face.

Luffy began screaming, "Let go of me, you stupid dog! Get off, get off, GET OFF!" "Luffy be still!" I told him, fretting. I tried to get the dog to release the boy but he merely held on harder. "Luffy stop fooling around!" Zoro shouted, and I started laughing, the ridiculousness of the situation finally hitting me.

"Look at you people," Nami started, and my laughter died away at the tone in her voice. "You know, the middle of the street isn't the greatest hiding place." "Who says we're hiding?" I shot back at her, and she frowned at me. She threw a key onto the ground then.

"You guys got me out of a sticky situation back there, so now we're even." "You stole this for us, Nami?" Luffy questioned, grinning at her like an idiot. "Thanks!"

"Yeah thanks," I said drily. It's the least she could do really since she was the one that got us in that situation to begin with.

"So what's the story here?" Zoro questioned, studying the orange haired girl. "Who's she?" "That's Nami," Luffy introduced. "She's our new navigator." I snickered when she yelled back, "I'm not your navigator!"

"She's our navigator," Luffy repeated. He made a move to grab the key and I watched him excitedly. I was so ready to get out of this fucking…

Just then, the dog, who hadn't moved since he'd released Luffy from his mouth, surged forward, grabbing the key, and swallowed it.

He fucking _swallowed it._

I stared at the dog, eyes wide. Did that...did that really just happen? Luffy and I froze upon hearing the ominous gulp as the key slid down the canine's throat.

Luffy snatched the dog up by his throat and began shaking him up and down repeatedly. "Spit it out you damn mutt!" he yelled, face red with anger. "That's not food! GIVE IT BACK!"

I sighed and facepalmed. "Luffy leave him be. He's already swallowed it."

"Hey you dern whippersnappers," we heard. "Quit picking on poor Chouchou! Put him down!" An old man was running up to us. He had white hair like a poodles and makeshift armor on over his hawaiian shirt and shorts. He stopped when he saw Luffy and I in a cage. "Chouchou?" Luffy repeated, again prying the dog off of his face.

"Who're you Ossan?" I asked curiously.

"Ossan?!" he repeated, sounding offended. "I'm the mayor of this town, Mayor Boodle!"

Boodle….poodle…..huh.

"That looks like a nasty injury," I heard the Mayor say. Puzzled, I searched for what he was pointing to. "Zoro-nii?" I questioned worriedly, when I noticed he was bleeding. That was the same spot Buggy had…

Zoro cursed and put a hand to his side, and when he pulled his hand away it was bloody. "But I thought…" I started, guilt pouring through me.

"It's fine, Aela," he soothed, understanding my tone. "It's just a scratch." "That's a pretty serious scratch then, son," the mayor pointed out, and my heart dropped. "I said it's fine!" Zoro repeated, but the damage had been dealt.

Useless. Fucking useless. My shield didn't hold up for some reason against Buggy's attack, and Zoro got hurt because of it.

Guilty.

Weak.

Fucking weak.

I grit my teeth in anger at my lack of strength, my hands balling into fists. "Aela?" Luffy questioned me when I turned away from him. I didn't answer, the feel of my fingertips cutting into my palms the only thing I wanted to focus on right now. "I take it you folks ran into Buggy then, huh?" Mayor Boodle spoke. "Let's get you to a doctor to get your side checked out."

No one really moved, and I glanced over towards my brother to see him studying me. "Go with him, please," I said simply, and he sighed but nodded. The mayor and Zoro began their walk towards a house down the street that I guess belonged to the doctor.

"You're not weak, Aela," Luffy said suddenly, and I turned to him, shocked. _How did he…_

"If it wasn't for your shield he would have been injured much worse," he continued, and my face tightened. "He shouldn't have been hurt at all," I said, eyes shifting down in shame. "I'm not strong enough yet."

"Why didn't you let me protect the cage when Buggy threw the knife?" I questioned my captain then, feeling defensive. "Is it because my shield failed with Zoro?" I threw out, terrified of the answer. He thought I was weak too. I wasn't worthy enough to be on his crew. He was probably going to…..

"No!" he shouted out, halting my thoughts instantly. "Of course not, Aela!" he continued, grabbing my blood stained hands in his own, forcing me to look at him. "You had already protected Zoro, and there was no reason for you to get hurt again. It's my job to protect my crew," he finished, voice bitter, and I realized he was feeling guilt as well.

"Luffy.." I breathed out, but before I could say anything else, the Mayor had made it back to us, sans my brother. "How's Zoro?" Luffy asked, peeking through the bars. He was still holding my hands and I blushed, gently pulling them back to my lap.

"He needs to see a doctor," Boodle said. "But he said he would just sleep it off, so he went to bed." He sounded really puzzled when he said that, and I grinned in spite of myself. That's my brother. The dog yawned then and Nami reached out to pet his head a bit. "So this dog is named Chouchou?" she asked.

"What's he just sitting here for?" Luffy questioned, eyebrows raising. "She's guarding the shop," poodle man answered. "I came to feed him."

"Oh! She's a guard dog!" Nami said, nodding. The girl looked around at the area we were in. "Pet food store?" "A good friend of mine owned the store," poodle man began explaining. "About ten years ago, he and Chouchou opened up this little shop. They've got a lot of memories here, and so do I…" the man trailed off as he looked into the distance.

"It's his treasure," I said softly, looking at the dog with soft eyes. Luffy heard me and nodded in affirmation of my statement. "See these wounds?" the Mayor pointed out. "She's been fighting the pirates, protecting her store from them."

"I'm sure that means a lot to his master, but this is just cruel!" Nami spoke vehemently. "Is he at the refugee shelter with the others?" The Mayor opened the door to the pet shop, walking in an disappearing for a bit before coming back out with a dish full of dog food. He set the dish in front of the dog, and Choucho instantly began chomping on the food.

"No, he's not.." the Mayor said, answering Nami. The man set on the porch and watched Chouchou devour her food. "He got sick and passed away," he finished, and I gasped. Poor puppy..

"He went to the hospital three months ago." "The poor thing!" Nami spoke, sharing my sentiments. "You mean she's been waiting for her master the whole time?"

"That's what everyone says, but that's not what I think," the Mayor shook his head. "Chouchou is a smart dog. She probably knows that her master is dead." "Then why does she still guard the store?" asked Nami, and I spoke before realizing what I was doing.

"It's his treasure," I said, watching the dog intently. "I think that Chouchou still guards the store because it's all that's left of her beloved master," the Mayor confirmed, pulling out a pipe from his pocket and lighting it. "I've been trying to get her to the shelter but she won't move from this spot," he sighed, taking a long drag of his pipe. Smoke slowly curled away from the Mayor's mouth, and I watched as it made its way into the sky. "She'd rather starve than leave her post."

There was silence for a bit, and we all seemed to be lost in our own thoughts. I was jolted out of contemplation when I heard what sounded like a loud roaring noise in the distance. "Mohji the Lion Tamer!" the Mayor shouted, and he and Nami ran off towards the noise. I blinked. "Was that...was that a lion?" I said to myself incredulously.


	8. Author's Note

**Hey guys! If anyone is reading this story or even receiving these updates, YOU'RE AMAZING. I'm actually going back through the story now and fixing mistakes. I found it by accident and had actually forgotten that I even had this story. I'm surprised at how decent it is lol. Anyway, I might be updating it soon, but I don't wanna make any promises. Like I said, I AM for a fact going back over all of the chapters and fixing mistakes, and I added some new stuff too.**

 **If I do make a new chapter, it should be up before the end of this week.**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **:D**


	9. Lion Tamer Mohji

**A/N: Hello! This chapter is sucky, in my opinion. It's not where I would like it to be. I haven't written anything in a long time, so it's very rough. Hopefully by next chapter, I'll have gotten into my rhythm again. I re-read this story yesterday and fell in love with it again, so I'm feeling inspired. Hopefully this feeling lasts long enough to spit out a chapter or two..or three or four.**

 **Those of you that are still reading, thank you so much. I also went back and read the reviews, and ya'll are amazing. Let me know what you think of this one, and I'll try to make the next one better.**

 **Also, I'm pretty sure Chou-Chou is a male dog, but for some reason I've been referring to him as a female. *shrugs* Whatever. it's not a huge part of the story so it's fine and I'm not going to change it. Sorry if it bothers you. Just look past it.**

 **Anyways, please enjoy!**

Luffy began demanding the key from the dog again. "Luffy it's no use. We're stuck here for now," I said grimly, and my hands twitched at the fear that flooded through me from the idea of being trapped. Luffy turned towards me, opening his mouth to argue, but before he could say anything, Chouchou began to bark loudly beside us.

My mouth dropped open in shock as a man riding a giant lion came into my view. "Well what do we have here?" the man, Mohji asked. He stopped in front of our cage, jumping down from the lion gracefully to land in front of us and Chou-Chou, who had not stopped baring her teeth at the strange looking man.

"I'm Mohji, Buggy's first mate," he started. "They call me the lion tamer." "No shit," I muttered, and Luffy chuckled a bit. "I see your nakama have deserted you both."

"What's that weird thing on your head?" I pointed towards him.

"Shut up!" he shouted, and I pouted at his raised voice. Rude.

"As I was saying," he cleared his throat, "It's too bad that they've deserted you. "Just after you managed to escape as well. Captain Buggy was pretty worked up." He grinned at us ferally when finished with his speech.

I glanced behind the man to see the lion begin shifting from paw to paw as if readying himself. "You guys stirred up a real hornet's nest."

"What's with the weird animal suit?" Luffy's question broke the tension in the air and I snorted. "This is my hair!" the man shouted back, hands flying up to cradle his head. "If you think you're safe in that cage, then you really don't know who I am."

I feel the opposite of safe in this thing.

At this point the man turned his attention to Chou-Chou, who growled lowly at him. "There's not an animal on Earth that I can't control. I can even control that mutt." He reached his hand to the dog, intending to shake her hand, when Chou-Chou reacted by reaching out and biting the man's hand roughly with her sharp teeth.

I winced in sympathy when the man yelled out in pain. That one hurt. The man reached out towards the dog and in retaliation, kicked her away.

"Hey!" I shouted, furious. I always was an animal lover.

Mohji huffed and climbed back on to his lion. "Tell me where Roronoa Zoro is," he demanded, and my face darkened. "No way in hell," I spit out, and he narrowed his eyes at me. "Who might you be?" he questioned, and a smirk grew across my face. "Like I'd tell you. You're no one special."

The lion man sputtered out in indignation. "Why you! Tell me where the pirate hunter is or die!"

"No!" Luffy and I shouted out at the same time, voices sharp.

"Then die!"

"Get 'em Richie!" he commanded, and the giant lion was running at us. Before I could make a shield, Luffy curled his body around me, and I grit my teeth when the lion shot his giant paw down at us.

The force of his paw caused the cage to bend until it eventually crumbled beneath the beast's paws. Pieces of the cage flew everywhere.

"I'm free!" Luffy shouted, and I laughed out loud with him. "Yeah! Thanks lion dude!" I responded, and the man growled at me, "I wasn't helping you!"

Just then, Richie's paw shot out, ramming into Luffy. I watched in shock as his body soared through the air, slamming into a building.

"You jerk!" I shouted, and my body automatically responded to my tone, shifting into a fighting stance. "Nobody could survive that," Mohji commented airily. "Serves the boy right."

"C'mon Richie, let's go find Roronoa." They took a step forward and I snapped. "Hey bastards!" my voice came out as a growl. I jumped in front of both man and lion, and they stepped back a bit surprised. Anger flew through me as I realized they had forgotten about me.

"Don't take another step," I commanded, and Chou-Chou appeared beside me, barking wildly. The man smiled at us snidely. "Take care of these fleas, Richie."

The lion swiped his sharp claws at us. I jumped to the side, rolling smoothly on to my feet.

"YIP!" A pained whimper.

"No!" I shouted out. Without realizing it, I began running towards the sound. Chou-Chou and I stood no chance against the beast, but there was no way in hell I was just going to allow the poor thing to get hurt after all she'd been through already.

"Shield extend!" I cried, thrusting my hand forward. A small, circular shield appeared in front of me, acting as a step stool for my next trick. I jumped on to my shield, using it to launch myself on to the lion's back. Seconds later, it disintegrated away into nothing.

"Shit!" I cursed, my hand reaching out to barely graze against the lion. My jump was too short!

At the last second, my left hand was able to barely grasp on to the mane. I dangled in the air for a second, heart pounding. Taking a deep breath, I reached upwards and grabbed on to the hair with my right hand, beginning to climb on to the lion's back.

Off to the left of us, Chou-Chou was getting up from where Richie had side swiped her. She trembled for a second before getting to her feet completely. She ran with full speed towards the lion, and sank her teeth into the beast's front leg. The lion roared out in pain, shaking its leg back and forth, trying to shake the tiny beast off, but the dog held firm.

"Richie, bite!" Mohji commanded. Richie reached up his right leg that the dog was attached, quickly bringing Chou-Chou towards his mouth.

"NO!" I shouted out, horrified. He'd swallow her whole! I yanked out one of the daggers I'd hidden under my leggings, whispering a quiet apology to the lion. Grunting with the effort, I swung myself over to the lion's back leg, and swung my dagger down.

The dagger hit deeply, sinking through skin and bone. The lion roared out even louder than before and I cringed, feeling sick. I'm sorry.

If I can just make it to the top… My plan was to take out the man controlling the beast. "How dare you!" I heard a voice shout, and quickly looked up. Mohji was glaring down at me from the lion's back, and his face was dark with anger. He obviously didn't appreciate me stabbing his pet...not that I could blame him.

"You'll regret that, girl!" he growled, reaching towards his back pocket. Mohji yanked a whip out from where it was curled into his back pocket, unfurling it and cracking it in the air menacingly. "I'll teach you not to mess with my Richie!" he roared, snapping the whip towards me.

I squealed and maneuvered my body to the side as best as I could, still hanging precariously from the mane of the lion. I'm gonna fall! I looked down fearfully, sweating bullets. Did he use that on his lion?!

THWACK!

"Ahh!" I cried out, the whip hitting my arm with a snap. I shut my eyes against the sharp pain, involuntary tears leaking out. Glancing at my arm, I winced at the red welt left over.

"You son of a bitch!" I shouted out, furious. Pain made me angry. The man smiled at me, whip snapping towards me again. It hit my arm a second time, and that was it. My body reacted before my mind could, and I let go of the mane.

I hit the ground with a loud thud, immediately curling my body up into a ball for protection. Thankfully I landed behind the lion so he wouldn't be able to step on me. Gritting my teeth at the pain from the fall and the throbbing in my arm, I gingerly began pulling myself up.

"Are you still coming after us bitch?!" I heard Mohji say. I looked up just in time to see Richie swinging a paw towards Chou-Chou, his sharp claws glinting in the sunlight.

"Shield extend!" I cried out loudly, thrusting my hand towards the dog. A shield erected itself around the mutt just as the claw came down on to the bubble, but I didn't stop there. I knew it wouldn't hold for long, and I was already running towards them.

I got to the dog and rolled, scooping up the mutt and running towards the store. I kneeled down to her level. "Please, stay here," I pleaded, looking into the dog's big brown eyes. I put my hand on her head and gave her a rough pet before I stood and turned towards the lion tamer and his beast.

My hands clenched into fists as I got closer to them. I knew there was a good chance that I was going to lose this fight. I just wasn't strong enough. But I was going to do everything in my power to win. Zoro would never forgive me if I didn't.

I reached down and grabbed another dagger hidden in my boots, arming myself. "Inner shield," I muttered lowly, placing my hand over my heart. I felt a pulse of power run through me, making me smile. This move always gave me a high of sorts; the energy running through me felt amazing.

With Inner Shield I was able to direct the shield into my body. Instead of the bubble forming outside of my skin, it formed under. My body became much like Luffy's actually. I couldn't stretch my limbs of course, but attacks simply bounced off of me, bullets included.

Like my outer shield though, it took my actual energy to keep the shield going, and I was drained afterwards. I wouldn't be able to use this defense for long.

I stopped directly in front of the crazy looking man and his lion. I smirked at them darkly and got into a defensive stance, body buzzing with energy.

"You're gonna have to go through me to get to this store, asshole."

 **A/N: Not a very long chapter, unfortunately, but I wanted to get something out. I do much better writing things in short spurts. I'll get hit with inspiration, write something, and send it in. Saying that, I'm already working on the next chapter. Send me a review or a follow. Definitely appreciate it!**

 **Till next time!**


	10. Whipped into Shape

"I don't want the store, stupid girl. I simply want the Pirate Hunter," Mohji confirmed.

"My brother has no business with you," I denied, sniffing. "Your brother?!" he shrieked, and I rolled my eyes. "That means that you're.."

"Roronoa Aela..yeah I am," I answered, exasperated. "You guys need to do more research! It was my idea for him to even begin hunting pirates!"

"It's no matter," he continued, ignoring my pouting. "I'll bring the both of you in." He stepped in front of Richie, grinning darkly, his whip dragging behind him. "Better yet, I'll use you as leverage to draw your brother out."

"Tch," I scoffed, but eyed the whip warily. That thing hurt. "Like I'd ever be brought down by a weirdo like you. Seriously, what's with the hair?" I ended, genuinely curious. Was that natural, or?...

"STOP IT WITH THE HAIR!" he yelled out, and I chuckled.

"Taste my whip!" The whip snapped towards me, but I was ready this time. I threw my body to the side, rolling back up to a standing position. "You're really starting to piss me off with that thing!" I growled out.

I began running full speed towards the man, startling him. I guess he was expecting a trick of some kind, but that's not my style. Honestly, my favorite style of fighting is just….

"Gah! My nose!" Mohji fell back, blood pouring from his now broken nose.

Punching it out.

I realized from a very young age (along with Zoro) that I wasn't exactly blessed with sword swinging abilities. In fact, weapons in general just weren't my thing. I learned how to use them of course. How could I not with Zoro as my brother? He taught me how to use a sword and dagger, along with throwing stars and knives. My aim was pretty good when aiming a gun, and I'm even decent at throwing a spear.

My fists, however, were my true strength. I was only five foot two, however my punches still managed to thrown a grown man on his ass.

Hand to hand combat was my niche.

"You bitch!" The lion tamer moaned, blood leaking from in between his fingers where he was gingerly holding his nose. The words came out sounding like, "Boo bitch!"

I twitched, leaning down to put my face in his. "I'm getting real tired of being called a bitch today.." I muttered to him lowly. He gulped at my tone, glancing behind him.

"Richie!"

Oh shit! How did I forget about the lion?

I got up and turned to face the beast, but within seconds, quickly found myself soaring through the sky from the force of Richie's side swipe. I slammed into the wall with a grunt, my head hitting the stone wall with a sickening crack.

The only thing that saved me was my inner shield, which was thankfully still in place. That was probably the only reason I didn't have a hell of a concussion right now. Not like I haven't gotten tons of those in the past.

Ohhh Zoro gets so mad at me… I shuddered at the thought. I slid down the wall a little, making sure I was steady on my feet. _I don't wanna attack the kitty but…._

"Sorry about this kitty cat," I said out loud. "Sorry for what?" Mohji cackled. "Looks like you're finished girl.."

I charged forwards to the lion, evading the man's attacks. When I got close enough to the beast, I attacked. I slashed at his front and back legs, sliding under the stomach to slice _under_ the beast as well. My cuts wouldn't kill. The lion wasn't at fault here. He was being controlled by an asshole.

They would definitely keep him from getting up though.

The lion groaned and promptly fell over. He twitched once or twice, attempting to get up, but finally, lay still. He let out a final groan of defeat, and then was quiet.

"Richie?" Mohji called his lion's name, voice sounding scared, and for a second, I felt true remorse wash over me. Maybe I shouldn't have…

"You...you.." the man turned to me then. He was trembling in anger, and I readied myself. "Listen…" I started, "I didn't kill him..he's just…"

"FEEL THE WRATH OF A LION TAMER!" Quicker than lightning, Mohji had flicked his whip towards me. I tried dodging, but unfortunately, my shield draining my energy meant my speed was lowered. I jumped to the left just as the whip came cracking down. I felt air hit my face from the force of it snapping through the air and I gulped. That was way too close.

 _Crack!_

I tried diving out of the way for the next attack, but I wasn't fast enough. The whip cracked me in the side, and I cried out. The attack didn't hurt me, but the force of it caused my inner shield to die out.

I crouched on the ground, panting. This guy just kept coming. Mohji's hand lifted up once more, and my eyes closed reflexively.

 _Crack!_

"YIP!"

"Whaa.." Stunned, my eyes shot open. Chou-Chou had jumped in front of me, protecting me from the whip. "Chou-Chou?..." I whispered, heart beating wildly. I ran up to the pup, tears leaking from my eyes when I noticed that her side was bleeding.

"No no no… Please be okay.." Leaning down on one knee, I picked her up gently, turning her towards me. "Puppy?" she whimpered in pain and I sighed out in relief. _Thank the gods…_

"Don't ignore me!" I heard the whip before I felt it. It cracked across my shoulder and I grit my teeth. I held one arm above my head while the other held Chou-Chou protectively to my chest.

The whip cracked again, wrapping around my arm. I glared at the lion tamer, ignoring the burning sting of the cut. "You're a bastard for picking on a defenseless pup…" I grit out, anger flooding through me.

"You're just a meddling bitch! I was going to keep you alive to lure your brother out, but you've pissed me off now."

He yanked the whip back and I gasped as Chou-Chou and I were flung to the side. I skidded across the street, concrete and gravel scraping at my shoulders, knees, and back. "No!" I cried out when Chou-Chou was released out of my arms with the force of the pull.

 _Crack!_

The whip cracked on my back this time, and I couldn't keep myself from screaming a little bit.

 _Crack! Crack! Crack!_

"Fuck you!" I screamed out, my body writhing now. Skin had been broken now, and blood was dampening my shirt, which was in rags. I didn't care about my stomach showing, but I was very grateful for the wrap around my breasts.

"Come speak with me, girl," the man chuckled darkly, and then, I was choking. The whip had been wrapped around my neck. He jerked me towards him roughly, and if I wasn't too busy yanking at the noose around my neck I would've cussed him out at the painful rocks digging into my side.

 _I can't….breathe.._ I was gasping pathetically now, trying desperately to pull the whip from my neck. The edges of my vision began dimming. My hand began trembling and losing strength….

 _Thud!_

The pulling of the whip stopped very suddenly, the binds loosening around my neck. I breathed in air so quickly I began hacking.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" a very familiar voice shouted, and my eyes shot open in glee. Luffy, bless him, was standing with his back towards me. One foot on the whip, pinning it to the ground. His precious hat was tilted over his head, hiding his eyes. His aura was dark, and I almost felt sorry for the bastard.

Almost.

Luffy tugged on the whip sharply, yanking it out of the man's hand. "I'm gonna kick your ass," he stated plainly, and charged the man.

"Eh?" the man gasped, backing up quickly from the boy who was now running towards him like a pissed off bull. Luffy reared back his arm, sending it flying towards the lion tamer. His fist slammed into the man's jaw, sending him flying into the air. The captain's hand stayed on the man's face even as Mohji flew upwards, his arm stretching. When the poor man was almost on the ground again, Luffy stretched his other arm up, yanking Mohji down to Earth.

The ground shook from the impact of the man's body hitting the ground. His head cracked into the pavement. The man was still after that, and Luffy stood huffing for a little bit longer, before turning around and walking towards me.

I was still on the ground. I could've gotten up at this point, but hey, I was exhausted and wanted to watch the show. "That was awesome!" I told him giddily. Luffy said nothing, simply came over to me and grabbed my arms.

I groaned as he gently pulled me up. There was worry in his eyes as he looked me over, and I grinned at him reassuringly. "I'm fine, Cap," I confirmed, even as I felt blood slide down my back.

His eyes travelled down to my arm where the raised welts from the whip had indented themselves into my skin; the pain was still pulsating angrily through me. I didn't like the look in his eyes, which screamed of guilt.

I noticed that his hat was hanging around his neck, so I reached out and placed it on his head, straightening it for him. "There," I started, smiling at him gently, "we're all good now."

"Shishishi," he laughed, and I felt relief to see the darkness in his eyes had receded.

Then I remembered.

"Chou-Chou," I murmured, fear running through me. When asshole tamer flung us with his whip, I lost my grip on her. Was she…

"Bark!"

Letting out a huge breath of relief I peered around Luffy. Chou-Chou was on her feet again, looking at us expectantly. I walked, or rather jogged, over to the mutt, kneeling down to her level. Running my hands through her fur carefully, I winced when I found the spot the whip had touched. She jumped away from my hands a bit, but I soothed her with low whisperings.

Upon closer inspection I could see that the whip had definitely touched her, but the wound was artificial. It had broken the skin, but her fur thankfully took the majority of the blow.

"Thank goodness," I breathed, sitting back on my feet. I sent the dog a playful glare. "Dumb mutt, making me worry like that," I teased, giving her a rough pat on the head. She yipped at me and I grinned.

"She's all good, Cap!" I confirmed, glancing around me to the dark haired boy. "That's great!" he laughed, wide smile on his face.

"I'm so pathetic!" The two of us startled a bit, looking down the street to see the Mayor running towards the both of us with a fierce scowl on his face.

I was surprised and irritated to see the orange haired girl with him. What was her name again?

"Where the hell were you, Nayomi?" I questioned her, standing next to my captain now.

"It's Nami!" she grit out, shark teeth bared at me. "Isn't that what I said?" I whispered to Luffy, puzzled.

"Chou-Chou and you young-uns fought so hard yet why must I, the mayor, sit by and watch our town be obliterated?"

"I don't think you could've done much old man," I started, trying to soothe him.

"40 years ago this island was a barren land," he continued, ignoring me, "but we worked hard to build it to what it is today! This town is a treasure to me and its citizens. I cannot allow those dirty pirates to have their way anymore!"

 _BOOM!_

A huge blast suddenly erupted, destroying the opposite side of the street. Multiple buildings were destroyed.

"Was that.." Nami started, eyes wide at the destruction. "Buggy…" I growled, jaw tight. His damn Buggy Ball took out a block of the town!

"M-m-my home…" the mayor stuttered. My heart sank for the man. To see his home disappear right in front of his eyes…

"ZORO WAS IN THERE!" Luffy shouted suddenly. "WHAT?!" I gasped, turning to the boy. I grabbed a hold of his face with both hands and pulled, cheeks stretching. "You're just now telling me?!"

"You knew already!" he protested, but it came out garbled.

"Zoro!" I began to run towards the rubble, heart in my throat. I stopped though when some of the debris started to shake, and suddenly, a green head burst through the wreckage.

"That's one helluva way to wake a guy up," a gravelly voice griped, and I couldn't stop myself.

"Zoro-niiiiiiii!" I shouted, launching myself at my brother. He grunted when I ran into him, the force of it pushing him back. I wrapped myself around him like a koala and he gently began trying to pry me off.

"How are you still alive?!" Nami exclaimed, pure shock in her voice. "Zoro-nii has a hard head," I said, but it was muffled due to my head being shoved into his shoulder.

"Aela..get..off.." the green haired man grunted, plucking my arms off of him. Every time he yanked a limb off, it stuck right back to him, like he was a giant magnet.

His hand pressed against my back, and the tattered remains of my shirt dug into the still slightly weeping wounds left from the whip. I stiffened for a millisecond, and of course he noticed. He always noticed.

"What…" he started, and then stopped. I looked up from where I had my head hidden in the crook of his neck, and cringed at the sight.

Zoro was staring at his hand that was placed on my back a second ago. There was blood on his fingertips, my blood, and his face was slowly darkening into the face I hated.

 _Shit._

I let him untangle my limbs from his body, already dreading what was coming. I stood in front of him like a wounded puppy, head down. I felt his eyes trail over my body, stopping on my arms, shoulders. His hand grabbed gently on to my chin, and he moved my face back and forth, taking note of the cuts and scratches and growing bruises on my cheeks. There was a small scratch above my left eye which had begun slowly bleeding, and he gently wiped it away with his thumb.

"Zoro…" I started.

"Hush," he cut me off, and my mouth snapped shut. He slowly turned my body around, and when he saw the mess that was my back, drew in a sharp breath. I knew what he was seeing. Mohji had hit the same spots numerous times, the whip weakening the skin and causing it to break.

Blood was dripping down from the wounds that stretched from my right shoulder all the way down to right below my left thigh.

I turned to face him, opening my mouth to explain...and then I wish I hadn't. Zoro-nii's face was zeroed in on my neck, which was an angry red color. It was raw from the weapon being wrapped around it, and from the force of being dragged across the pavement.

"What. the hell…" Zoro's voice breathed, and I gulped.

 _Double shit._


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Soooo I'm going to do a thing. I've been getting to know Rain more, and I've realized that she's not much of a Rain. I originally wanted her to be close to Luffy's character, but as I get to know myself more and figure out what type of writer I am, I'm also realizing that the character is just going to write itself most of the time.**

 **Rain is turning into more of a badass, sarcastic, sweet on the side character. She will still have her sweet and goofy moments, however, the way that she handles situations will change. She obviously does not have this amazing superpower that instantly makes her badass, which is why I love her. Rain will have to grow into a badass. Her power is definitely made for defense as opposed to offense, however that will change eventually. She's going to have to figure out how to earn her keep on the Strawhat's crew, because as is, she's pretty weak compared to them.**

 **She's got a lot of strength and random skills with weapons as I've stated in the story, and she won't ever be defenseless because she knows how to fight hand to hand as well as having skills with certain weapons, but she won't EVER be a power house like Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji. She's going to develop into a more strategical character.**

 **Anyway, I decided that since her character is developing more and more into something different from my original characterization of her, the name needed to match the personality.**

 **I've changed her name from Roronoa Rain to Roronoa Aela, pronounced (Aye-lah)**

 **I apologize for this because it zaps you out of the story a little bit, but I truly think it will help everyone connect with her character more. I'm going to go through the story and change her name, and after that will begin working on the new chapter. It won't take long.**

 **Thank you all so much for the follows and favorites. You're awesome.**

 **Next chapter will be out very soon.**


	12. Clown Kickin' Time!

**A/N: Hey guys! Last chapter of the week. I'll try to get another one out soon. I'm on a roll. Let's hope I can keep it up!**

 **Leave a review if you can! Thank you so much for all of the favorites and follows. I appreciate them so much!**

 **Yall enjoy!**

"You've got 10 seconds," Zoro said simply, face closed off. I started fidgeting, feeling like a little girl all over again.

"What's happening?" I heard the orange girl whisper. "Zoro doesn't like it when Aela gets hurt," Luffy answered and I scoffed. That's an understatement.

"Zoro-nii, before you get pissed, which I can see has already happened, you really should let me explain.." my voice trailed off, waiting.

No change.

"Okay..so...so we were stuck in the cage right? Remember the cage?"

Nothing.

"...Well….after you left this huge lion came around the corner, and there was this guy, Mohji, who looked like a lion himself now that I think about it..which is probably why his hair was like that…"

"6 seconds…" he interrupted, making my heart beat erratically. I took a deep breath...

"Luffy was knocked into a building and there was a puppy protecting this store cuz her owner died and I didn't want the puppy to get hurt so I fought the lion guy who had this whip and I had to stab his pet lion which made me feel really bad cuz it wasn't his fault he wasn't a bad lion it was the guy controlling him but I stabbed him in the thigh and stomach and then the weird guy got really pissed at me and smacked me with his whip a couple times and I didn't wanna fight niichan but the guy was after you and I couldn't let him find you of course so I.."

"Stop," the green haired teenager commanded, and I did gratefully. My lungs were burning from spitting all of that out at the same time and I gasped for air.

"Where is he?" the pirate hunter asked, and no one needed to question whom he was speaking about.

"I got him," Luffy's voice cut through the air then, and I glanced behind to see that while his voice sounded relaxed and Luffy-like, if that's a thing, his dark eyes were staring seriously into Zoro's. They were obviously having some sort of silent, private conversation about _me_ , that I wasn't invited to.

Zoro's brows furrowed in concentration as he stared at Luffy, looking for something in the dark haired boy's eyes. He apparently found what he was searching for, because after a few seconds he nodded at Straw Hat, and gently hit me upside the back of my head.

It didn't hurt in the least, but I grabbed the back of my head anyway, turning towards my brother angrily."What was that for you big meanie?!"

"I told you to stay out of trouble," he reprimanded me and I sniffed. "I'm not the one who got a building blown up on top of me," I mumbled childishly.

"WHAT WAS THAT, BRAT?!" Zoro shouted, shaking his fist at me.

"YOU'RE DUMB!" I shouted back, sticking my tongue out at him. He took a step towards me threateningly, and I ran and hid behind Luffy who chuckled at us.

"I can't stand it anymore!" the mayor suddenly exclaimed, and I jumped. I'd forgotten all about the guy for a second there… "Some random scum bag has no right to destroy our 40 years of hard labor! I am this town's mayor and I will protect this town or die trying!"

"Hey wait!" Nami stopped the man who started walking towards Buggy's base. "Don't be so hasty!"

"There are fights a man can't run from, missy," he said. "Isn't that right, young-uns?!"

"Yeah!" Luffy agreed, pumping his fist in the air. "That's right!" I shouted, stomping my right foot in excitement.

"Don't urge him on!" the thief said worriedly, "What can he possibly accomplish by charging at them? It's suicide!" "I'm aware of that!" the mayor cried, and pulled himself out of Nami's hold, running off into the distance.

Silence from the four of us.

"...Whelp, he's gonna die," I said bluntly, and cried out when I felt not one, but two punches hit the back of my head.

"Don't say that!" Nami.

"Don't be so callous!" Zoro's voice.

"Why are yall so mean," I whined, nursing my fresh bumps. "I'm injured!"

"Looks like the fun's about to start!" Luffy laughed, and Zoro nodded in agreement. "Sure does."

"How can you guys be laughing at a time like this?" Nami demanded, throwing her hands up at us. "It'll be fine," Luffy reassured, readjusting his hat. "I like that old guy."

"Meh..he's a little strange," I commented, shrugging. "You're one to talk…" Zoro muttered, and I stuck my foot out towards him, 'accidentally' causing him to stumble.

"You little shit!"

"Oops..I didn't see you there Niichan!" I snickered.

"Why you…"

"Geesh, you guys argue like siblings!" Nami complained, and I blinked at her owlishly.

"But...we are siblings Nayomi…" I stuttered, and she whipped around to face me, shark teeth in full force.

"I WON'T TELL YOU AGAIN! MY NAME IS NAMI!"

"Blehhhh!" I stuck my tongue out at her and blew bubbles. Off to the side, Zoro sighed.

"Unfortunately, she's right. Same parents and everything." "What do ya mean by that?!"

"You don't look a bit alike…" she trailed off, watching us closely as we continued arguing.

"Who'd wanna look like a plant?" I sniffed, hands folded behind my head casually.

"Rather a plant than a tomato," he retorted, and Nami sweatdropped when the two of us got in the other's face, shaking our fists. "Actually I see it now," she corrected weakly.

"So what's our next move, Cap?" I turned to the teenager, energy flowing through me. I was still in pain, but adrenaline was an amazing thing, and I was still pretty high on it right now.

"Well," he started, "Our destination is the Grand Line so our next move is simple. We have to go steal the map from Buggy." He grinned widely at us and directed his next statement to the thief, "Join our crew, Nami!"

"I'm never going to be a pirate," Nami began, slapping Luffy's hand out of her way, "but how about we team up for our common goal?"

"Shishishishishi," Luffy laughed, and I took that to mean he accepted her cryptic answer for now.

"Alright!" I shouted out, punching Zoro's shoulder in excitement. "Let's go kick that clown's ass!"

 **goldgoldgoldgoldgoldgoldgoldgoldgoldgoldgoldgoldgold**

The four of us arrived at the bottom of Buggy's base. The mayor was currently in a face off against Buggy, and the clown was taunting him from the rooftops. I was impressed to see that the mayor was holding a spear in his hand...however, a second later I felt a little nauseous. Buggy's detached hand was wrapped around the mayor's throat.

I shivered. Something about that was just...icky. Suddenly, the mayor was lifted into the air, legs flailing about. He tried in vain to kick his way free, but he was outnumbered due to the cannon being pointed towards him.

"I'll bet you a strawberry pie that there's a Buggy Ball in the cannon," I whispered, and Zoro grunted.

"I-I won't let you destroy this town!" the mayor choked out, and I grit my teeth at the determination in his voice. "Even if it costs me my life!"

"Tch," Buggy scoffed at the pitiful man in front of him. "Is the Buggy Ball ready?! On my mark get ready to fi-"

"I'M BACK!" Luffy shouted suddenly, appearing in front of the Mayor. I blinked. Geez he's quick.

Captain reached out and pried the clown's hand off of the mayor's neck. He took several breaths of fresh air, and I reached up to rub my own neck, cringing in sympathy for the man. "I'm here to kick your ass just like I promised," Luffy continued, waving Buggy's hand at him mockingly. Straw Hat let go of the disembodied hand and it flew back towards its owner.

"Are you alright, old man?" I questioned, rubbing his back as he coughed. "I'm fine," he answered, looking at me gratefully.

"How dare you come walking back here so flashily!?" the clown captain shouted, voice indignant. "You brats must enjoy pain!"

"Listen!" Nami cut in. "All I want is the map and the treasure." "Yeah we figured that," I responded, rolling my eyes.

"What are you all doing here?!" the mayor questioned angrily. I knew he wasn't truly angry at us; simply concerned. "You young-uns are outsiders. This is not even your fight." He held the spear out towards Buggy. "I will protect this town or die trying!"

Luffy reached out then and punched the mayor, knocking him out cold. I squawked at the random attack, but quickly reached for the poor man, making sure he didn't hit the hard ground.

"It was for the best," Zoro grunted, helping me carry the guy to a safe spot. "He was just going to get in our way otherwise." "I feel like we coulda tried talkin' to him first though…" my voice trailed off.

Luffy tilted his head back and shouted, voice ringing confidently through the air. "Fight me BIIIIIIGGGG NOOOOOSSSEE!"

I cracked up at the screams of horror that erupted due to Luffy's battle cry. The orange girl bawled her hands up towards her face and gawked at Captain. "What the hell is wrong with you?! That's the one thing you should never say to him! I was right! You're just an idiot pirate!"

I wiped imaginary tears from my eyes as Zoro began readying his swords. "Hey," his voice cut to me then. "Pay attention." I nodded at him, impish grin remaining on my face, but eyes sharp. I'd been studying the rooftops since we got here. I wonder who was going to attack first…

"Damn you, you flashy idiot!" Buggy shouted, beyond pissed. "I'll teach you to mess with me! FIRE THE BUGGY BALL!"

Nami screamed loudly and ran away from Luffy and the rest of us as fast as she could, screaming, "Look what you idiots did! Why'd you have to say that?! You've killed us!"

"OI! Luffy get the hell out of the way!" Zoro shouted, but our captain did nothing. He simply stood there as the ball got closer and closer. I stood right behind Luffy, puzzled at his reaction.

"Aela what the hell are you doing?!" Zoro screamed at me. He tackled me to the ground seconds before the ball was to hit. I wasn't concerned about me though.

"Captain!" I shouted, struggling against my brother. "Luffy move!"

"That measly cannonball's not gonna work on me!" Straw Hat shouted, and my mouth hung open in shock. What is he…

"Gomu gomu BALLOON!" The cannonball slammed into Luffy's stomach who had at this point, sucked in so much air his body had expanded to the size of a hot air balloon. Zoro and I watched in shock as the cannon ball bounced right off of the teenager's stomach, flying back into the direction in which it was launched.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS GUY?!" Buggy shouted, eyes practically falling out of his skull. "HE TOOK A DIRECT HIT!" the clown's crew shouted behind him. Buggy and his crew screamed when the cannonball blew not only the rooftop away, but destroyed the entire building, leaving behind nothing but rubble.

"Shit, Captain, at least warn us next time," Zoro scoffed, but he had a shit eating grin on his face as the both of us stood up from our position on the ground.

"That was amazing!" I had stars in my eyes, staring with awe at Luffy who was grinning ear to ear. "You just bounced it off of you!" I ran up to Luffy, poking his stomach and stretching his skin. "Shishishisshi," the teenager merely laughed and rubbed his finger under his nose.

"What the heck are you?!" Nami raged, stomping over to Luffy. "No human being is able to survive a cannon ball to the stomach! Explain yourself, pirate!" "Hey lady, lay off!" I shot back, annoyed with her tone. "We're alive aren't we? That should be good enough."

"I'm just trying to understand what's happening!" the orange girl huffed. "Our captain is frickin' awesome!" I explained to her in a 'duh' voice. "That's what's happening!"

An angry tick appeared on her forehead and she opened her mouth, probably to yell at me some more, but the sound of wood breaking and glass bottles shattering interrupted her. We all turned to see Buggy making his way out of the rubble. He was holding something in his arms, and I squinted trying to see what it was.

Nami gasped out in shock. "He used his crew members as shields." "What?!" I cried, disgusted. What kind of low-life bastard would do such a thing?!

"Captain Buggy!" Suddenly, Mohji, the lion tamer, came running towards the clown captain, both hands in the air. "These guys are trouble. The red haired bitch took down Richie and the black haired boy is made of rubber!"

Zoro growled when he heard the man's words, hand automatically reaching for his swords. "A rubber person?" Nami echoed, openly staring at Luffy. Luffy's arm stretched out then, moving all the way down the street to slam his fist into the lion tamer's face. The punch hit the man right between the eyes, sending him straight back to where he came from. "STAY DOWN!" he shouted.

He turned to Nami then, grinning at her as if nothing had happened. "Yeah that's right. I'm a rubber man."

 **A/N: Thanks for reading guys! Leave a review! Till next time!**


	13. Cabaji the Acrobat

**A/N: Welcome back, guys! Thanks for all the follows and favorites.**

 **Ya'll enjoy!**

Luffy turned to Nami after bouncing the cannon ball back at Buggy's crew. He was grinning at her as if nothing had happened. "Yeah that's right. I'm a rubber man." "

That explains how he bounced the ball back," Buggy murmured. "Devil fruit user, huh?"

"Nope, it's all natural," I sassed, and the clown cut his eyes to me. Zoro elbowed me a bit, pushing himself in front of me. "This is not the time for your mouth, Aela."

"Sorry brother," I snickered, using my left hand to rub the back of my hand sheepishly. "Can't help myself sometimes." Just then, a new man shot out from the debris. He was also holding an unconscious man in his arms, and the grin fell from my face. I growled when he tossed the body aside. "They treat their crew members like trash," I cursed.

At my words, Luffy glanced over at me. He had managed to maintain his carefree aura, but his jaw and shoulders were tense. He wasn't happy with Buggy's treatment towards his crew any more than I was; he was probably more upset about it than I was actually.

¨Captain Buggy,¨ the new man started, his thick blue and white checkered scarf blowing in the wind, ¨leave this trash to me, please."

¨Very well, Cabaji," Buggy answered, and I bit my tongue. ¨His voice makes me want to punch him in the throat," I murmured, and Zoro hummed in agreement.

¨Show them your acrobat show!¨

The black haired man, Cabaji, leapt high in the air. He landed on a unicycle and came cycling towards us, sword in his hand. His blade was aimed towards Luffy. ¨I, Acrobat Cabaji, Chief of Staff, will take on Captain Buggy´s anger!¨

Zoro sprang up from beside me then.

 _Clang!_

The green haired man jumped in front of the unicycle, swinging one of his swords out to block the other man´s blade with his own. ¨ _I´ll_ clash swords with you,¨ my brother confirmed, and I pumped my fist into the air. ¨Yeah! Get him, brother!¨

¨Roronoa Zoro,¨ Cabaji began, eyes narrowing and then shooting to me, ¨and Roronoa Aela I presume. It's a pleasure to meet the two of you. I would be honoured to slay a swordsman such as yourself.¨

¨Like that would ever even become a possibility,¨ I sniffed, but silently glanced down to Zoro´s side, where his bandages were slowly becoming dotted with new blood. I was worried for my brother, but I would be a fool to relay that fear out loud, where the enemy could hear.

Nami, however, had no such thought process. ¨Zoro you can´t fight! Your wounds aren't..¨

¨Stay out of this,¨ Zoro interrupted the girl, his voice a growl. ¨This is my fight.¨

¨But..¨ she started to say, but Luffy stopped her now. ¨Let him,¨ the straw hat boy said with a grin. ¨He just said this was his fight.¨

The straw hat swordsman smirked towards his captain in appreciation. Nami looked over at me, gesturing towards my brother. ¨You have nothing to say about this?! He's your brother. He can't possibly fight in these conditions!¨

I said nothing, but silently observed my brother for a few seconds longer, before nodding. ¨Zoro is gonna kick his ass.¨

¨Damn right I am," Zoro confirmed, placing his sword in his mouth and readying himself. ¨What is wrong with you people?!¨ Nami screamed, completely done with the situation.

¨Acrobat Technique: Old Man Arsonist!¨ Cabaji called out suddenly. The black haired man puckered his lips, blowing out a giant stream of fire that went directly into Zoro-nií´ś face.

I grit my teeth in anger when Zoro cried out in pain, stumbling away from the fire. When Zoro stepped back away from the fire, Cabaji swung his leg out, kicking Zoro directly into his bleeding wound.

¨Bastard!"I roared, unconsciously stepping forward. Luffy's hand on my arm stopped my movements.

¨GAHHH!¨ Zoro fell onto his back, writhing in pain. I dug my nails so hard into my fists that I felt them break skin. ¨What's wrong?¨ Cabaji taunted. ¨I'm sure I didn't kick you _that_ hard.¨

Luffy watched the fight calmly, his face blank, but every time I moved forward half an inch, he quickly pulled me back beside him. Nami seethed, ¨He fights dirty going after his injury like that.¨

¨Acrobat Technique: Murder at the Steam Bath!¨ Cabaji stabbed his sword into the ground then, spinning around multiple times on his unicycle. He kicked up the dust which whirled up around them, hiding him from Zoro's eyes. ¨What steam?¨ Zoro scoffed, picking himself off of the ground. ¨That's an ordinary cloud of dust!¨

I wasn't convinced of that though. I watched the cloud of dust closely, my hands instinctively preparing themselves to form my shield.

A glint of steel from within the cloud.

¨Zoro!¨ I shouted out a warning too late. Zoro raised his two katanas to block the sudden attack from Cabaji. Their two weapons met, however Cabaji´s leg kicked out as they did so.

 _Thwack!_

I watched as blood sprayed out from my brother´s wound. He rolled to the ground, yelling even louder than before.

A red haze overtook me at that moment. I heard nothing, saw nothing, but Cabaji, grinning wickedly at my brother writhing on the ground. I didn´t even realize I was walking until I felt Luffy´s arm wrap around my shoulders, halting me in my tracks.

¨Aela,¨ he started, and my captain´s voice broke through the fury I was feeling. ¨Think about what´s on the line for him right now.¨ I growled, nearly spitting in my anger, but ceased my movements. He was right. As much as it physical killed me to see my brother in this much pain, he would never forgive me if I interrupted his fight.

¨Why did you stop Aela?!¨ Nami shouted, and I turned to her. ¨How is he even still alive? I thought you were crew mates! He's your brother! He's going to die! Is that what you want?!¨

¨You know nothing of what I want,¨ I sneered at the orange haired girl, voice scathing. She stopped at the venom in my voice, shocked. ¨Stepping into his fight right now would be a fate far worse than death. It's not merely his _life_ at stake.¨

¨But..¨ Nami murmured. ¨Roronoa Zoro is about to get defeated!¨ Cabaji shouted, raising his sword in the air. The unicycle man charged forward on his bike. Zoro got to his feet a third time, face scrunched in pain, side covered with blood, but stance unwavering. He clutched two katanas in his hand. ¨Annoying bastard,¨ he growled. ¨Is kicking my wound that much damn fun?!¨

¨Don´t fuckin´ do it,¨ I cursed, causing Luffy to cut his eyes to me. Zoro stood his ground against the man as his sword came closer and closer towards him. Instead of dodging or even moving out of his way though, he stood in place allowing Cabaji´s sword to pierce his open wound. Blood spilt from his side much quicker now, creating a small puddle on the ground.

Pieces of Zoro´s now shredded bandages floated slowly to the ground as Cabaji cycled past him. ¨Wh-Why didn´t he dodge?¨ Nami stuttered, face pale. ¨Is this enough of a handicap for you?¨ Zoro taunted, grinning edgily at the now very confused Buggy crewman.

The green haired man´s fist tightened around his katanas and he lifted them into his signature stance. ¨I´ll show you the difference level between you and me.¨

¨Yeah! So cool!¨ Luffy cheered, pumping the arm that wasn't still wrapped around me in the air. I grinned savagely, ready for the other man´s blood to spill like my brother´s had.

Cabaji began to sweat. ¨So...this is Roronoa Zoro? You think it's wise to mock me?¨

¨I am to become the world's greatest swordsman,¨ my brother´s deep voice rang out across the area. ¨I can't lose even once to anyone who calls himself a swordsman. If I lose to someone like you,¨ he scoffed, ¨well I might as well just die right now.¨

¨Do it Zoro!¨ Luffy yelled at the same time that I shouted, ¨Kick his ass, brother!¨

¨I can´t go along with this.¨ Nami turned on her heels then, arms crossing over chest. ¨You pirates can injure or kill yourselves all you want. It doesn't matter to me whether you win or lose. I´m going to use this chance to swipe their treasure and get outta here.¨

I glanced over at the girl very briefly, rolling my eyes. I didn't really give a shit what princess over there decided to do with her time. She´d done nothing but irritate me at this point anyway. ¨Let's team up again if we ever get the chance. Good luck with the fight!¨ she finished, dashing off into the alleyway.

¨Eh?!¨ Luffy retorted, but made no effort to chase after the thief. ¨Good riddance,¨ I shrugged. ¨Taste my ultimate acrobat move!¨ Cabaji suddenly shouted, redirecting my attention to the fight. He held out handfuls of spinning tops. _Where do you suppose he keeps those?_

He hurled them at my brother shouting, ¨Acrobat Technique: Dance of 100 kamikaze tops!¨ Zoro sliced all of the spinning tops into minicule pieces, however Cabaji wasn't quite finished. ¨Acrobat Technique: Hike in the Mountains!¨ The acrobat cycled up the side of a building, angling in at a perfect 90 degrees from the ground.

When he reached the top of the building, he performed a back flip so he was directly over the green haired swordsman, his blade pointed directly over Zoro's face. ¨Acrobat Technique: Firework in the Cool Summer Breeze.¨

¨Woah, he's high,¨ Luffy marveled. ¨Tch. This guy has the stupidest attack names,¨ I told Luffy, and then shouted louder, this time to the acrobat. ¨YOUR ATTACK NAMES ARE DUMB!¨

Cabaji glared down at me from his position. ¨SHUT YOUR MOUTH, WENCH!¨ He plummeted towards Zoro then, blade ready for blood. ¨Sting of the unicycle!¨

¨Ground-hugging Chop-chop Cannon!¨ a voice cried out behind me. I whipped around only to see Buggy pointing his palm towards Zoro´s back. His hand split from his arm and sailed towards my brother. ¨Cabaji! I´ll hold Zoro down. Finish him off!¨

Two things happened at once.

¨Captain,¨ I alerted Luffy who turned to see what was happening. As Luffy reached out immediately, stomping on the back of Buggy´s hand just as it was about to fly past us, I took one of my dagger´s hidden under my shirt, launching it towards the clown.

¨AHHHH!¨ Blood flew. Buggy screamed out in pain from Luffy's foot crunching the bones of his hand, and my dagger impaling itself in his left shoulder. Buggy clutched at the weapon sticking out of him, deadly intent in his eyes.

Meanwhile, I looked over at my brother to see that he had jumped out of the way to avoid Cabaji´s blade. He collapsed on the ground, panting heavily. He was covered in sweat and there was a steady flow of blood coming out from his side. He propped his arm against his knee, gritting his teeth.

¨Stay out of Zoro's fight,¨ Luffy ordered the clown, back towards the swordsman. His tone was dark but his face had a giant grin stretching across it, warning the clown to make another move.

¨Enough..I'm tired..¨ Zoro said, and Cabaji laughed. I studied my brother closely, confused at his words for a second, before a small smile graced my face. This fight was far from over, and Buggy´s lackey was a fool for underestimating my brother.

¨Finally given up have you?¨ the man sneered. ¨Though I must say, I'm impressed you could fight with such injuries.¨

¨I meant..¨ Zoro started, standing to his full height. ¨I´m tired of your shitty ass aerobatics. You´re a shit swordsman and a joke of an acrobat.¨

I burst into laughter, not giving a shit when the man turned to me, glare sharp enough to kill. ¨How dare you?! How dare any of you?!¨ He readied his blade. ¨Let's see how terrible of a swordsman I am when you´re blood is dripping from my sword. DIE!¨

Cabaji flew forward on his unicycle with his sword pointed forward. Zoro stood ready, white katana in his mouth and a katana in each hand. ¨Oni...¨ he began, and I leaned forward, excited. My brother moved with such speed that I lost sight of him for a second. Just a second though. Zoro disappeared into thin air, and then just as suddenly, reappeared again behind Cabaji. His blades out behind him and a knee on the ground. ¨Giri!¨

Blood burst from Cabaji like a water sprout. The black haired man fell to the ground with a weak gasp, and did not get up again. ¨CABAJI!¨ Buggy yelled, his eyes almost bouncing out of his face at the sight of his henchman´s defeat.

¨We...the Buggy Pirates..beaten by mere sneak thieves?¨ Cabaji gasped out, and I smirked. ¨We´re not sneak thieves...¨ Zoro yelled out, breathless. He sheathed his precious weapons, slowly sinking to the ground. ¨We´re pirates!¨

I turned to Buggy then, and the clown stared. I knew what he was seeing. My eyes had darkened, just the pupil though. The irises _around_ my eyes were bright white, making my eyes glow. My mouth held a feral grin, and the wind was making my curly, blood red hair flow around and frame my face.

"Hey Buggy…" I started, and my grin widened when he flinched.

"You're next, bitch."

 **Review please!**


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